A Fox's Touch
by Astroman1000
Summary: Naruto couldn't find his way back to his teammates after being knocked away by Orochimaru. He eventually finds them while Sakura is fighting for her life against the team from Sound. Unfortunately Sakura is fatally injured and Naruto has to make a decision that will change her life, and his, forever.
1. To Save A Dying Petal

**AN: Hello Fanfiction! This is a fanfic idea that's been bothering me for a while and I just had to get it down. For those of you who might recognize the general idea I did get it from another story named Sound of Madness by NeonZangetsu. *whispers* it's not so good. But most importantly it's very unfinished and I asked him if I could use the "Naruto infects Sakura with Kurama's chakra" idea several weeks ago and he never got back so I'm just going ahead and writing this.**

 **Anyway this story will be second fiddle to Goku the Gamer so it will probably be updated on a bi-weekly basis as to not interfere with the aforementioned story's update schedule.**

 **In case anyone is wondering no bashing will occur in this fic… I think. I dislike Sasuke I'm a firm believer that he should have been executed or imprisoned for life for his crimes based on canon events and reasonable reactions to them. But Kishimoto wrote the characters with specific traits and flaws and that's just how it is. Any "bashing" that occurs will be plot relevant and meaningful, not a silly hate filled rant.**

 **Summary: Naruto couldn't find his way back to his teammates after being knocked away by Orochimaru. He eventually finds them while Sakura is fighting for her life against the team from Sound. Unfortunately Sakura is fatally injured and Naruto has to make a decision that will change her life, and his, forever.**

 **So the allowance I'm asking for here is that Sakura and Sasuke lived through their encounter with Orochimaru. And that Naruto could stumble across them later on and replaces Lee as savior… kinda. And I'm ignoring the other characters in canon, the idea of teams ten, specifically Lee, and nine just stumbling across the fight is ludicrous, the Forest of Death is huge. Canonically it's ten kilometers in radius! So yeah. And to stave off any confusion without the five element seal the pedo-snake put on Naruto he has access to the Kyuubi's chakra. Sorry I really have to cut down my Author's Notes. Anyway I hope you guys like A Fox's Touch.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I make profit off of Naruto, please support the official release.**

~AFT~

 **Edit: New readers can obviously ignore this, but I did a pretty big revision in how the story is, the pacing of the chapters, yadda yadda yadda. Basically it's better and I hope that those who chose to reread the chapters see that. For those lazy readers who don't want to read a new chapter there will be a revision summary at the end that details everything I did.**

~AFT~

Chapter 1: To Save a Dying Petal

'I'll keep Sasuke-kun safe.' Were the valiant thoughts of a smart, but weak, girl. But Sakura knew that, since the Wave mission she had begun to see the gaps between her teammates and herself. Unfortunately she hadn't done much to change, coasting along on her undeniably high intellect, which was why she had to resort to booby trapping the area she and Sasuke were in. She had been confident they would be safe, but the genin before her had cut through the traps they had triggered with little to no trouble.

"Hehe, look at her. Weak and alone, trying to protect a boy that's already dead. Just leave girl and we might let you live, hm."

To drive his point home and maybe scare the pink haired girl Zaku let his tongue loll out of his mouth and wiggled it a bit. Turning to look Dosu, Zaku told them his marvelous plan.

"Let me take care of her Dosu, this forest has been boring and I need something to take my frustrations out on, hm."

Without looking at him Dosu merely gave a short shake of his head in the affirmative.

"HEHEHEHE!" Was the crazed laugh Sakura heard come out of the boy with spiked black hair. She had only a second to prepare herself before he launched himself at her.

A dull thump could be heard as Zaku's fist landed on Sakura's left cheek. Sakura let out a small cry of pain, but that's all she could do. He immediately followed up with a strong burst of air from his palms that sent her rocketing into one of the gigantic trees that would commonly be found in the forty-fourth training ground. "Gah!" From her mouth Sakura let out a small cough of blood. She shakily stood up in a desperate attempt to defend herself, and this time Zaku let her.

"Why do you stand, hm? I'm going to kill you, you know that, hm?" Not hearing a response from the pink haired girl, just a harsh glare Zaku shrugged and smiled a truly sadistic smile. "Hehe, your funeral pinky, hm."

'I WILL keep Sasuke-kun safe, I have too.' Steeling herself for the incoming attack Sakura's brain worked overtime in an effort to counter the incoming boy. 'He can use some sort of wind jutsu so I have to stay close and make this fight a fist fight, but he's pretty good at that too, if his strength is anything to go by.' When she finished that thought Zaku was already upon her, this time she tried to angle herself so she would fall near one of her traps.

Gritting her teeth through the pain of getting launched by another one of those wind jutsu Sakura almost smiled. She had landed exactly where she wanted. Just a little to the left of the clearing she had set up a large kunai barrage. Backing up just a bit so that she wouldn't get hit, Sakura prepared herself once again.

Noticing something was off Dosu called out to Zaku, "Zaku wait!" only to be ignored. He had already launched himself at the rosette, clearly frustrated by her unreasonable tenacity. He fell for the trap hook, line, and sinker. Surprised and in pain Zaku used a quick kawarimi to get out; unfortunately he didn't dodge everything and had to pull out a kunai from his right shoulder, left thigh, and the right side of his abdomen. It was more inconvenient than anything, he had dealt with worse, but it still pissed him the hell off.

"You fucking bitch! I'll kill you for this! You're going to hurt and scream so bad that you'll wish a million times you'd left earlier. And then I'll rip your head off and show it to the sleeping beauty over there right before I kill him too!"

Zaku was practically seeing red and Sakura was beginning to cower in fear. She knew that after his last attack that she didn't have much left in the tank, at this point she could only hope and pray that someone came to help.

"ZANKUUHA!"

She wasn't prepared, she couldn't defend, and so she was launched deep into the woods. Unfortunately for her that didn't stop her attacker one bit. Feeling herself being picked up by the collar of her shirt Sakura cracked her eyes open only to realize she was inches away from the black haired boy's face.

"Don't think that this is where you'll die, like I said I want your teammate to see what's left of your corpse, hm."

Unable to even gurgle back a response Sakura let herself be dragged by her hair back toward the clearing. Her assailant was purposely hurting her as much as possible, making sure she hit every rock, branch, or leaf that was in her way. In a last ditch attempt to free herself Sakura reach up with the kunai she was still desperately holding onto and cut her hair free from Zaku's grip.

Feeling a distinct lack of weight in his grip Zaku turned to look at the little bitch only to find her desperately and pathetically trying to crawl away from him.

"Hehe, I gotta admire your tenacity pinky, hm. But you've just made me madder!"

Grabbing her by her hair once again, but this time making sure his grip was a close to her skull as possible, Zaku lifted Sakura's head up about a foot off the ground before slamming it back down. Dull thuds could be heard for about a minute before Zaku was satisfied and resumed walking to the clearing, confident his plaything wouldn't be getting away again.

By the time Dosu and Kin could see their teammate again it took them several seconds to realize that what he was dragging was the target's female teammate. She looked like garbage, her qipao was so shredded it looked more like punk-style crop top, even the back had been inexplicably torn off, probably by Zaku… pervert. Her green biker shorts were in much of the same condition looking more like panties, but even then both clothing items had large rips and hole in them. Both pieces of clothing were completely covered in mud. For some reason she had really short hair and blood could be seen coming down her face like a waterfall, if Zaku didn't directly kill her blood loss definitely would. The skin that wasn't caked in mud was almost as torn as her clothing with sticks sticking out and rocks imbedded deep within her musculature, it could be easily inferred that the mud caked skin was just as bad if not worse as it had more contact with the forest floor. If they hadn't made careers out of being murders several years ago Dosu and Kin would have thrown up. She looked more like some sort of horrible parody of the human form drawn by a bloodthirsty psychopath than she did a thirteen year old girl.

All was silent as Zaku dragged her to the center of the clearing, clearly wanting to make of showcase of what he was going to do to her. Stepping away from her unresponsive body Zaku ran up one of the trees that marked the clearing border until he was about 100 feet in the air. Pausing to collect himself Zaku then dove down towards the rosette and called out his most powerful move.

"ZANKYOKUKUUHA!"

A massive gust of wind pounded into the girl on the floor, the inertia created by the attack causing her to lift up into the air a bit. He did the move two more times before landing on the ground.

"How was that bitch?"

Zaku meandered over to the blood splatter on the ground, for she barely looked human. Her clothing was none existence as the attack had destroyed what little was left. It had also broken several of her bones including her ribs and had created hundreds of small cuts all across her front. She looked like someone had dipped a brush in red ink and then put down the brush and dumped the entire container on her causing a large puddle to appear.

"Look, at you, you can't protect shit… but I gotta give ya props, not many people could take a beating like you have and keep living, hm. Maybe we could play a little more, hm?"

'I must protect Sasuke-kun, I must… live.' Were the thoughts of a dying girl as she fell in and out of consciousness.

Standing above her Zaku's calm face morphed into a maniacal grin. "Now you get to feel your head get separated from your body, how FORTUNATE!" But before Zaku could do the deed an animalistic roar startled him and the rest of his team.

"RAAAAAAOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRR." Naruto saw red. He had spent most of the night after a short nap searching for his missing teammates. He had been relieved when he faintly felt their chakra only to discover Sakura was dead, or at least damn close to it.

'Sakura! SAKURA! SAKURAAAAAA!' He could think of nothing else. 'THEY HURT YOU! THEY HURT YOU! THEY HURT YOU! I'LL KILL THEM! I'LL KILL THEM! I'LL KILL THEM.' No other thoughts could be articulated, all Naruto physically did was growl and roar. The red he saw was actually a chakra cloak created from the Kyuubi's chakra he had unwittingly drawn upon in his anger.

Dosu, Kin, and Zaku could only stare in confusion. A single collective thought ran through their minds, 'Who's this kid with the glowing red stuff?' Being the clear target of the new kid's anger Zaku turned to face him.

"And who the fuck are you? I was just about to wrap things up with pinky right here so if you give me a minute-"

He didn't finish his sentence, or more accurately, he couldn't finish his sentence. Having been completely encased by his one tailed chakra cloak Naruto rocketed towards the fourteen year old and buried his fist deep in his gut. A surprised and _very_ hurt Zaku was launched into a tree.

He collected himself rather quickly, but put a hand over his abdomen in an effort to quell the intense burning sensation left behind by Naruto's punch. 'The hell is this kid?' Glancing at the part of his stomach that burned Zaku was disturbed to find the clothing that was there had been burned away and he looked like he had suffered third degree burns. 'The fuck? Is his chakra corrosive? Welp, not going anywhere near him.' If Zaku had been watching his attacker more closely he might have noticed the beginnings of a second tail forming at the base of the boy's spine right next to the first.

An absolutely wild Naruto had immediately dashed towards Dosu and Kin after punching away Sakura's attacker. Dosu jumped out of the way quickly… Kin was not so fortunate. Naruto had realized that Kin was the slower of the two given that she didn't react to his dash that quickly and mauled her with claws of bijuu chakra.

Kin's deafening wail tore Zaku out of his musings. He looked at her only to find her upper body lying a couple feet away from the blonde brat and her legs at his feet. His eyes widened in horror. 'I… what? I'm out of here!' Zaku turned to run away only to find the aforementioned blonde brat standing before him, still dripping from Kin's blood. The words he said were barely a whisper, but Zaku heard them loud and clear despite its gravelly roughness.

"You hurt Sakura-chan. For that, there will be nothing left to bury."

Desperate to defend himself Zaku attacked. "ZANKUU-" Unfortunately for him he didn't finish. Looking down in disbelief he saw Naruto's elbow sticking out of his chest, if he could see behind himself he would find a small hand completely covered in red chakra and lifeblood.

With a vomit inducing *shlick* Naruto removed his arm and let Zaku's body fall backwards, then he got to work. If Dosu hadn't run away he would have heard the telltale tearing sounds of a person being dismembered. Naruto threw Zaku's left arm deep into the forest. His right arm he took and held close to his body in an effort to completely disintegrate it, it worked. Before tearing off his left leg Naruto took a few moments to pulverize it into a mush that vaguely resembled a human leg, then he ripped it off and threw it into the forest, but it a different direction than the left arm. He ripped of the right leg without ceremony, but before disposing it he beat Zaku's face in using it as a makeshift weapon. He then snapped it in half, tore Zaku's jaw off, and shoved the calf into the exposed hole. He then tore into the thigh and ate it like a chicken leg finally tossing the bone into the forest in a different direction than the previous body parts. To finish off his spectacular job Naruto used his hands to tear open Zaku's chest and stomach vertically. He then pulled out the intestines and pried open the ribcage much like one would open a present. The final touch was taking Zaku's no longer beating heart and swallowing it whole.

Satisfied with his work Naruto realized one of the Oto Nin had gotten away. Not one to leave a job unfinished Naruto sniffed around for his scent and, once he found it, made chase.

~AFT~

Dosu was scared, rather he had been five minutes ago when he saw the blonde bastard tear Kin in half with a single swipe of his… claw hands? The chakra that surrounded him had clearly formed into claws around his hand kind of like a horrifying murder glove. But all of that was behind him, the Konoha Nin must have taken care of his dying teammate or something. Unfortunately without the rest of his team Dosu was going to fail the test, but he wasn't worried about that, he was more worried about what Orochimaru would do to him. 'Maybe I should just run away, probably join a minor village and lie low… naw he'd find me.'

None of that mattered though because not even a second later the genin that had killed his teammates appeared before him. Dosu was too surprised to react to the very large chakra claw that was coming at him and as such could not prevent this death.

At Naruto's feet lay the two halves of what was Dosu Kinuta. Naruto had crushed his skull so the tendons and sinews that were his neck no looked more like desperately grasping tentacles. With nothing to hold them in Dosu's intestines spilled out creating a river of blood and guts. Now the body, if it could be called that, was nothing more than a revolting caricature of a canyon with a river that ran through that originated from the mess that used to be Dosu's head.

Having carried out justice, and grabbed the scroll he had on him, Naruto returned to his fallen teammate.

~AFT~

Upon returning Naruto still wasn't all there; the Kyuubi's chakra filled him with rage and made him act on primal instincts. In this case protecting and avenging Sakura was his only goal, which he had carried out beautifully. But as he kneeled before her prone form, her ragged breaths becoming shorter and shallower, Naruto wanted to scream. What could he do? He may have protected her and killed her attackers, but she could still die! Lost and without any real options Naruto did the only thing he could. He touched her.

"AAAAHHHHHH!" Sakura's pained yell startled him away; he could clearly see the burn left behind by his hand. But it was the only thing he could do! What else was there? So he steeled himself and grabbed her again. This time he embraced her fully, holding her so that he touched as much skin as possible. Her screams tore at his heart, but he used them as fuel to further pump the Kyuubi's chakra into her. After a few moments Sakura's keening wails stopped as her voice became too hoarse to be used. All of the skin that touched Naruto's blood soaked form had been burned black, her eyes had rolled up into her sockets indicating she had lost consciousness. Yet she breathed, yet she lived, Naruto could hear her heart pumping. Maybe it was working?

With a final push of effort Naruto filled Sakura with as much of the Kyuubi's chakra as possible and fell away from her onto his back. Exhausted the demon chakra slowly dissipated. With the final dregs of his stamina and willpower Naruto got back up and pressed his ear to Sakura's bare chest. He could still hear a heartbeat! Sure she looked like a corpse pulled out of a house that had burned down… and exploded. But she was alive! So he dragged her over to lie by Sasuke and completely covered the entrance to their little hidey-hole with other roots and branches and fell into a deep slumber.

~AFT~

Team seven had caught one hell of a lucky break. No one seemed to come across their "hiding spot" and as such they weren't attacked in the four or so hours that the entire team was asleep. On the other hand when Naruto awoke he realized that he was the only one to do so. 'What the hell! Now I have to carry the teme all the way to the tower? Jeez… Though I ain't got a problem holding Sakura-chan, hehe.' But it was the thought of Sakura that jolted Naruto to full wakefulness. He had to check whether or not she was ok!

Looking at the prone girl beside him Naruto was filled with unparalleled joy. Sure she still looked really bad, but she was breathing, and with strength too! The rise and fall of her, still naked, chest was strong and steady, clearly her life was in no danger. Tears of happiness streamed down his face, 'She's going to be ok, thank Kami, she's going to be ok.'

After a moment of staring at his beautiful teammate Naruto had to turn away with a furious blush. She was naked! Making an easy decision Naruto removed his jacket and his shirt, the jacket he made Sakura wear as a top and the shirt he made a skirt out of by ripping open the head hole so that it rested comfortably on her hips. She looked silly, but she was clothed. Naruto's innocent mind no longer had to be tainted by the glorious image of Sakura's naked form, those thoughts almost made him take back his clothes, but he knew if Sakura ever found out he was staring at her naked she would kill him. So the clothes stayed on.

After that little adventure Naruto took a moment to remember what he did while under the Kyuubi's influence. He almost threw up when he remembered what each body looked like when he was done with them, how each of their faces were contorted in pain and horror, but in the end he didn't feel too bad about what he had done. They had hurt his precious Sakura-chan and they deserved it, every last moment of pain and agony was their due.

Shaking his head in an effort to vanish those morbid thoughts another realization occurred to Naruto: using the Kyuubi wasn't all that bad. 'I'm mean sure it hurt like hell to use it, but I was able to avenge Sakura-chan. I mean if one guy could do all that to her then what could I have done? Maybe I should figure out how to use it without going psycho…'

When Naruto had finished thinking, he created sixty-one Kage Bunshin and set sixty of them to establish a perimeter and one to pick up Sasuke. If Naruto had to get to the tower alone he was going to do it well. "For Sakura-chan!" Was his battle cry and off he went.

~AFT~

In his mad dash to get to the tower Naruto was able to get there in less than an hour. It was only about midday of the second day, which meant there would be a lot of time for everyone to recuperate. Especially Sakura. Even now all Naruto could think about was making sure she was ok. Having dispelled his little clone escort when he reached the bridge right before the tower Naruto only had to dispel the clone that held Sasuke. He did so with gusto. Snickering at the dull thump caused by his male teammate Naruto gently laid Sakura down on the concrete floor and withdrew the two scrolls he held. Not sure what to do Naruto read the writing up high on the wall.

Left even more confused by the "advice" that was clearly missing words Naruto decided to open the scrolls anyway. "What's the worst that could happen?" Were the naïve thoughts of the foolish blonde.

Smoke immediately started pouring out of the scrolls; so thinking it was some sort of trap Naruto threw them away and stood in front of Sakura in a defensive stance. To his relief and confusion, instead of an enemy, Iruka appeared.

"Yo!" was his casual salutation, though his eyes widened when he saw Naruto standing in front of a clearly unconscious and badly burnt Sakura. Glancing around he saw the crumpled form of an equally unconscious Sasuke; both seemed to be breathing which was a relief.

"What the hell?" Was Naruto's magnificent response. "What the hell are you doing here Iruka-sensei?"

"You see Naruto, at the end of the second test it's set up so that we chuunin meet up with the exam takers and I was allowed to be the one to greet you."

"Whaa…"

Glancing at his large pocket watch Iruka's expression changed from mildly amused to downright astonished. "Kami Naruto!" He exclaimed. "It's only the second day, and barely past noon! Good job on passing this portion of the exam so quickly! I was going to say that we celebrate with some ramen but… your teammates clearly need medical attention. Let's bring them to the infirmary so they can get the care they need."

But Naruto was still stuck on the fact that he passed. By himself no less! He had literally put the team on his back and it paid off. 'Sakura is going to be so happy when she wakes up… maybe she'll let me take her out on a date!" Encouraged by what the future held, Naruto leapt at Iruka in incomprehensible joy.

"I did it!"

Surprised by the flying tackle, but not completely unprepared, Iruka tried to get Naruto to refocus. "H-Hey Naruto. We got get Sakura and Sas-"

Naruto cut off Iruka. "Oh Kami, Iruka-sensei! Sakura needs help, please!"

Shaking his head at his ex-student's excitable nature Iruka answered him. "I already said that Naruto. The infirmary is this way. I'll grab Sasuke and you can bring your precious _Sakura-chan_."

Naruto blushed at his old sensei's suggestive tone, though a warm feeling filled his heart that someone else recognized his undying love for the most amazing kunoichi that lived. He then gently picked up said kunoichi, cradling her like the most precious of porcelains, and followed Iruka to the infirmary.

~AFT~

Upon seeing the state of the genin the infirmary staff immediately took them and set to work. Sasuke was a bit of a problem because for about an hour none of the nurses could find anything wrong with the boy. That is until they stripped him down and one of them noticed the cursed mark on his neck. Confused at what it was, but confident it was the source of Sasuke's state of unconsciousness and mild pain, one of the nurses were sent to fetch the Hokage. Hiruzen was greatly surprised to hear about the Cursed Mark and immediately went to the tower with Kakashi in tow. Upon arriving they were greeted by Anko who had also been informed of Sasuke's mark.

Striding right in the Hokage stood before the last Uchiha and sent all but Anko and Kakashi away. "We're removing the boy from the exams and I'm going to summon Jiraiya so that he can look at this. I understand yours is the same as his Anko so I expect you to help him with controlling it. For added precaution I want to put a temporary seal on top so that it doesn't so heavily influence him. And if he throws a hissy fit about not being in the exams just come to me and I'll straighten him out ok?"

With a nod of understanding the three of them got to work and set up the same seal the Hokage had used to seal away Anko's (1). After completing the seal and activating it Sarutobi called in the other nurses so they could continue to attend to Sakura and Naruto.

Taking care of Naruto was very simple. He had passed out the second they got Sakura's unconscious form onto a bed and given his natural healing all the nurses had to do was bandage his injuries which were mostly light burns and the odd small scratch or two. The only weird part was that the burns, while not that bad, were extensive. After stripping the boy down it was clear they covered almost all of his body. Not knowing why and not caring to find out the nurses simply applied burn ointment to speed up the healing process. The small boy would probably be out by tomorrow morning or late tonight depending on when he woke up.

Sakura was… concerning to say the least. Her wounds were the worst by far and stripping away Naruto's shirt and jacket only revealed their horrifying extent. Once again if it weren't for the years of experience each of the nurses and doctors had dealing with gruesome and grisly injuries, they were unfortunately commonplace in the shinobi line of work, many of them would have lost their recently eaten lunches.

She was disturbing to look upon. Much of her skin was burnt a deep red. Much of that skin, if it could be called that, was covered in gashes and cuts that even now wept blood. A second look at Naruto's clothes revealed that much of it was indeed stained with the girl's blood. While caring for her an incomprehensible amount of dirt, sticks, and rocks had to be removed from the rosette's body. Her legs more closely resembled meatloaf than they did actual legs and her arms resembled shredded paper.

It was a stressful three hours for the groups of nurses and doctors that were treating Sakura. They first had to bath the girl since most of her body was one big wound it was much easier than cleaning each wound individually before dressing it. Then they took some thirty to forty-five minutes removing sticks and rocks from her body having to plug up the weeping holes they left behind. The next step was to wrap her entire body in bandages; again it was easier than dressing each wound individually. Finally they assessed the extent of bone breakage in her body. The doctors and nurses were once again horrified to find all of her ribs broken, most of the bones in both of her legs, and some of the bones in her arms. Her skull had received several fractures and her jaw was broken. Luckily none of the ribs had punctured any internal organs so internal bleeding was _one_ thing the poor girl wasn't suffering from. The biggest concern in the end was the several fractures and few breaks that could be found along the Sakura's spine. Even with the best medical attention and most advanced iryojutsu (medical jutsu) Sakura's chances of walking under her own power were slim to none. An exhausted team of medics realized at about 4:00 PM mere moments after finishing their final examinations, it was the end of her career as a ninja.

~AFT~

 **AN: So that's the end of the first chapter, I like to keep my chapter's around 5k words with a 2k word allowance above or below. Here felt like a good time to stop it anyway. I hope you guys liked it please tell me all of your thoughts and opinions in the reviews. Criticisms matter and in all of my works I strive to keep characters in character. So please criticize harshly as it's the only way I can grow as a writer. Thank You.**

 **Oh and before it comes up I'll explain any notable changes or choices.**

 **(1) It says the Hokage canonically sealed Anko's cursed seal of heaven and since she ain't (that) crazy I assume his was more permanent or strict than Kakashi's evil binding seal or whatever.**

 **Again no bashing! Sasuke's removal from the exams makes sense it's a logical decision made by a wise man that has some experience with the seal. Not to mention Anko is there to influence the decision. Sakura wasn't removed on the off chance that she gets better in the three days left. Sasuke could have gotten up right then and Hiruzen still wouldn't have let him participate. It's a safety concern for Sasuke and the other competitors since Sasuke can fly off the handle at any time.**

 **Sakura's not a lot better because even though she has Kurama's chakra flowing through her she's not as attuned to it was Naruto is as such it doesn't work as well when it comes to physical recovery.**

 **Timeline wise the sound genin attacked the morning after the exam started so day two kind of. Since it was literally the break of dawn when they began to attack and Naruto found them half and hour later I'm saying that the fighting wrapped up at around 6:30 and he was sleeping at 7. I did a lot of calculations for when sunrise was so don't worry it's not an arbitrary or even plot convenient number. Sleeping for about four hours and getting to the tower in one, as well as Old Man Sarutobi sending everyone out for a couple of minutes makes the time in which the medics started working to be 12:30~ish, not long after lunch btw. If you notice Kurama's chakra** _ **is**_ **at work since Sakura never died from blood loss. This will be more evident next chapter. And yes given the time changes the ame genin did not stop Naruto nor did he run into Kabuto, it was much too early.**

 **Uhhh the pairing is NarutoxSakura… duh. No harem, no way.**

 **So the exam happens in April in my mind since we never see it snow in the manga though geography suggests it can in the winter, it's the first exam of the year, and the absolutely sublime weather that exists in Konoha at the time. Naruto swims without much issue and no one is seen dying of sweat, which suggest a very mild weather pattern that exists for about five days. So yeah, May. Also makes sense for the timeline I made.**

 **And look how tiny canon Naruto and Sakura are lol. At 13 I was… 5'4" pushing 170 I believe. Huuu, I was a big kid.**

 **(Naruto is 4'9" and 89 lbs) (Sakura is 4'10.5" and 76 lbs)**

~AFT~

 **Edit: Didn't change much of anything, just some grammar and structure. Definitely doesn't need to be reread. Again, I'm trying to correct my own work so outside of reviews I don't have much to go off when it comes to editing, so sorry if the "update" disappoints.**


	2. Revelations

**AN: I don't think I can ever stop being amazed by how quickly this story has grown. Considering how I am pretty sure that this is the lesser of my two stories it's almost sad that Goku the Gamer isn't growing as quickly. Of course it doesn't mean I'll work more or less, or put more or less effort and consideration into my stories. Like I've told some reviewers I will ALWAYS strive to write the best fanfiction possible. Unfortunately I have no dedicated betas so I'll probably always miss things, and I don't have someone to shoot down a dumb idea before I release it into the aether.**

 **There was only one guest review that needed response, but I'll only say that this chapter should answer your question.**

 **Uhm can't think of much else to say so…**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I make profit off of Naruto, please support the official release.**

~AFT~

 **Edit: Once again new readers can ignore this. Same deal as last chapter, check the bottom if you want a quick summary of any changes I made or if an older reader even needs to reread the chapter.**

~AFT~

Chapter 1 Summary: No one came to save Sakura from the Sound genin who were trying to kill Sasuke. So it was a scene of absolute carnage that Naruto came upon when he was finally reunited with his teammates. Snapping and using the Kyuubi's chakra Naruto absolutely tore apart the oto nin, then, in a desperate attempt to save his dying crush Naruto pumped Sakura full of Kurama's chakra. Naruto then made it to the tower in the middle of the Forest of Death passing the exam at the end of the second day. The Hokage came a removed Sasuke from the exam due to his cursed seal and Sakura… was alive.

~AFT~

Chapter 2: Revelations

Hiruzen and a much healthier looking Naruto could be seen walking down one of the hallways that held the rooms for contestants who had arrived early to rest in as they waited for the test to finish. It was the evening of the third day and Naruto was on his way to back to Sakura's room after eating dinner in the cafe. He had ran into the Hokage and had to voice the question that had been bugging him since he saw the Old Man that morning on the way to see Sakura.

"Hey Jiji, where'd you take the teme?" Naruto had seen him that morning only briefly as he escorted a clearly agitated, but subdued Sasuke.

"Well Naruto, I can't really tell you every detail but know that Sasuke is very unwell and needs special care. But don't worry, Anko, Kakashi, and I are going to make sure he gets better as soon as possible."

"Aww, that sucks, do you think he will be able to fight?" Naruto's doe-eyed innocence was really shining through.

With a heavy sigh he answered, "Unfortunately he won't Naruto, his condition is very delicate so I'm having a specialist come and help, he won't be here until after the second test is complete."

Naruto's demeanor became slightly subdued, he was able to save Sakura-chan, but he couldn't do anything for the teme. He perked up quickly when he realized that ultimately Sasuke being gone meant there was less competition. Even if he fought him all the time and spoke a big game Naruto knew Sasuke was still stronger than he was. 'Not for long! I'll just learn some super kickass jutsu… somehow, and be able to kick his ass in a second! Yeah…' Naruto was "intensely planning" when he heard his precious Jiji speak.

"Looks like we're Naruto. Why don't you go to Sakura and I'll speak to the nurse about her condition."

Eager to comply Naruto practically ran to the girl's bed, without Sasuke she was the only patient which gave the teammates a sort of privacy. Not that they needed it, Sakura was still out cold and wasn't looking so good. Sure it had only been a full day since she was put under the watchful eye of the head doctor, but Naruto had been hoping for more. If only he knew.

~AFT~

 **With the Hokage**

"Tell me Momoko-san, how is the girl doing."

Unsurprised by her Hokage's casual address, he really lived up to his name as The Professor and treated most of the village like students, honestly it was almost unnerving how no one had to introduce themselves to him, but it was comforting, Momoka Fukuyama answered with a bit of hesitation in her voice.

"Well Hokage-sama, it's… odd to say the least. She might not look it but she is actually recovering at an astonishing rate. Last night after Naruto left since he was well enough to not need medical supervision, we redressed the girl's… everything. As you no doubt saw she was covered from head to toe, but imagine our surprise when we discover all of her superficial wounds completely healed! Small cuts and bruises can usually heal over the course of a single day or two, but a mere six or so hours after receiving proper medical attention? Absurd. Redressing her this morning and noon was just as surprising, after a full night's rest most of the girl's bigger cuts and bruises were barely scratches. Most of her broken bones were nearly healed by noon and if anything the fully healed bones seemed stronger! Her spine is fine! If she was conscious she could probably walk around even if it would be painful given her burned skin. That's another thing, she literally looked like charcoal yesterday, we had planned to remove all of the skin that was too badly burnt, which was most of it, once her bones were healed so the removal process wasn't more painful than it already had to be. By noon today she looks like that." The nurse gestured towards Naruto and Sakura.

Upon a closer inspection Sakura looked pretty good compared to how she should have been, if he had to compare she looked only a little worse than Naruto had when he had arrived at the tower. In medical terms she went what could be considered fourth degree burns (the worst possible third degree) to second degree almost first degree. Like Momoko had said, it was astonishing.

After giving the Hokage a moment to study the girl Momoko continued. "At this rate she'll be up and about by tomorrow afternoon and completely combat ready by the end of the test. What would have undoubtedly a year's worth of recovery and physical therapy will occur in a mere three and a half days. The only things my colleagues and I can compare it too are Tsunade-sama's techniques and…" Here she paused, clearly hesitant to finish her sentence, but a look from her Hokage told her to finish. "Naruto's fast healing, it's not quite on the same level, clearly a bit slower, but not by much. The only thing we can think of that answers the baffling question as to why she has recovered so quickly is that Naruto did something to speed up her healing. Using the Kyuubi is the only logical answer but the how is what has us concerned." Momoko looked towards the old man by her side in silent horror. If he didn't like what she said… she didn't want to think about what could happen.

Hiruzen was just worried. If Naruto did something to the Haruno girl that had to do with the Kyuubi the public backlash would be tremendous. He was still hated by most of the population, but the odd prank or petty thievery were the only things they could really hold against him. If this got out, Hiruzen almost shuddered at the thought. Mebuki and Kizashi were both well respected retired chuunin even if they didn't belong to any clan. In his youth Kizashi had shown great potential, perhaps in another world he would have been made Hokage rather than Minato. A silly thought. While Kizashi had become a full time merchant Mebuki had stayed in reserve duty and led a mother only neighborhood watch. It was quite successful to the point that her side of town was rarely, if ever, visited by "The Prankster King from Hell" and their crime was nonexistent, literally, there hadn't been a crime reported in about a decade! From what he knew they didn't hate Naruto for being the jinchuuriki of the nine-tailed fox, but they didn't really like him either. His pranks would often affect Kizashi's merchant business cutting into his profits for the day and he still got away with the rare prank in Mebuki's neighborhood forcing the woman to deal with complaints for several days afterword. Having expected the boy to be an outcast they warned their daughter away from him the moment she described him after coming home from the park one day. If they found out about Sakura's current condition…

In the end if Sakura's parents reacted badly to Naruto somehow using the Kyuubi to heal her then things could get really bad for the boy. Hiruzen had already stopped so much from hurting him, if the public had an almost legitimate grievance against him Hiruzen would probably have to put him in hiding or, Kami forbid, with Danzo. He was brought out of his intense musings by Momoko's soothing voice.

"There is one last thing Hokage-sama." Momoko was practically fidgeting she was so nervous. "When we redressed the girl at noon today we noticed something… odd. There seems to be protrusions forming on the girl's head and just above her rear. At the moment they are nothing more than the smallest of bumps they could easily be considered odd growths if it weren't for their precise placement. The two protrusions on top of her head are perfectly symmetrical if you drew a line down the middle of her skull. The same goes for the single bump above her rear, it's even more concerning as it seems to be a direct extension of her tail bone. Sir, it may be a bit of a stretch, and I haven't shared this with the head doctor or any other nurse, but I believe she may be growing ears and a tail."

The revelation gave the Hokage genuine reason to pause. If Nurse Fukuyama was correct in her hypothesis hiding the event from the girl's parents would be impossible. A quick idea gave him reason to hope, "Could they be removed?"

Momoko's face contorted into a deep frown when she heard the Hokage's question. It would undoubtedly be possible, but would it be a good choice… "I can't say either way Hokage-sama, they should be possible to remove like any abnormal bone growths, but we have no way of knowing if the Kyuubi, assuming it was him, did something to them, like make them super sensitive or deadly to remove. I would say that removing them without greater knowledge of the situation would be a very, very bad idea." Realizing how what she said might have sounded Momoko's eyed widened in worry. "No disrespect was intended of course Hokage-sama."

The old monkey smiled, he had such respectful ninja. "None taken child, medicine is not my area of expertise and I have no problem being corrected when I am wrong. That aside this is all very concerning, let me talk to Naruto and see if I can find out the specifics of Sakura's situation."

Having not been far away from the children while conversing with Momoko it took Sarutobi only a moment to reach the boy. He had spent the entire conversation speaking to the unhearing girl, no doubt whispering sweet nothings, encouragement, and apologies for being unable to save her sooner. Hiruzen gently put his hand on Naruto's shoulder to get his attention. Slightly teary eyes were what greeted the old man and it broke his heart, clearly he was still torn up terribly by the girl's situation.

"Come Naruto, I must speak with you a moment concerning Sakura's condition."

Wiping away his tears Naruto acquiesced, "Ok Jiji." He followed the man he considered a grandfather just outside the infirmary to what looked like a waiting room. Some teams had arrived in the evening before dinner, but they were mostly fine so there was no one there at the moment giving the two privacy. Once they were seated Hiruzen spoke, not wanting to dance around the subject he went straight for the jugular.

"Naruto, please tell me the truth. Did you somehow use the Kyuubi's chakra to heal your teammate? Before you panic, you're not in trouble. I know that you have zero knowledge of basic first aid much less iryojutsu leaving you without any real options to help her if she was in trouble. I just want to find out how this all came to be."

Naruto realized he couldn't dance around the reality of what happened with his Jiji there. Even if he tried to lie the Hokage always had the unnerving ability to see right through him and hit whatever subject was really bothering the him. So with a small sigh that spoke volumes of his weariness Naruto answered.

"Well… from what I can remember I'd been separated from the rest of my team and only found them early yesterday morning. I couldn't see Sasuke but I now know he was unconscious under the biggest trees' roots. Anyway the second I entered the clearing I could smell it…"

Naruto paused for a moment there, he was clearly mustering up the courage to continue. Seeing the supportive nod from his jiji the boy continued.

"Sakura's blood was everywhere, and it had such a strong scent… then I saw her. She was… broken, lying in a pool of her own blood with that fucking spiky haired bastard standing over her…"

Naruto had to stop and take a deep breath to control his rapidly rising anger. He didn't realize it at the moment but the Hokage easily noticed the slight leakage of the Kyuubi's chakra, clearly anger was an easy emotion to take advantage of.

"I just flipped and the Kyuubi's chakra was suddenly flowing through me, I was so angry, practically bloodthirsty. I… I… I tore them apart Jiji. Literally. They… they had to pay for what they did to Sakura, what they were going to do… After I finished dealing with them I went to Sakura to see if I could help her, but I knew there probably wasn't anything. So, I know it was a dumb thing to do, but I needed to save her. I know the reason I heal so quickly is because of the fox, so since his chakra was still surrounding me I pushed as much as I could into her. She screamed, really _really_ loudly, but I knew she was alive. That's why she looked like that, the oto nin never used fire jutsu, the chakra burned her skin like that…"

Naruto had stopped once again, clearly regretting what he had done, but Hiruzen had all the information he could have wanted and needed to reassure the boy. "Listen, Naruto. It might not have been the best decision, but you did what you could. And look! You passed the exam! Much faster than almost everybody else, the only other team that got here before you was the suna team with the redhead. So please, don't be to hard on yourself. Sakura is undoubtedly alive because of you. And, to be quite honest, the nurse even thinks that the Kyuubi's chakra is the reason why Sakura-chan is recovering so quickly. You not only saved her, but you gave her a chance to continue to participate in the exams! So smile, and get a good rest, maybe Sakura will wake up tomorrow. And listen, about the oto nin. Killing is a part of being a ninja and you have to deal with that. Don't take joy in the act, but never hesitate to take a life to preserve the one of your comrade. Not to mention everyone signed those waivers meaning they knew the risks of entering the forest. So please rest with a light heart and pleasant dreams Naruto. Good night."

About halfway through his speech Hiruzen had stood up and gestured for Naruto to follow him. He spent the rest of the walk to Naruto's room finishing up his speech and after he said good night a much more relaxed Naruto responded in turn. Sighing deeply, the elderly Hokage returned to the infirmary to tell Momoko what he had learned and to witness the girl's redressing, those "bumps" in particular were worth a closer examination.

~AFT~

 **A lengthy explanation later**

"And that's about it. With everything that he said I think it is a safe bet to say that the girl's healing can be attributed to the Kyuubi's chakra. Though that brings up the question of how, to most, Naruto included, a bijuu's chakra is acidic. We saw the effects in Sakura's horrendously burnt skin, but how could it do a heel turn and begin to cure her? Could it be Naruto's will? Being sealed within him the Kyuubi has no way of moving his conscious so we can rule out it possessing the girl or trying to influence her. The only thing I can think of is that Naruto in fact forced his will upon the chakra and _made_ it heal her. A jinchuuriki's job is to control their demon's chakra, but to effect it after being separated from it? Odd. An examination of her chakra would be exceedingly prudent."

Nodding her head in understanding Momoko proceeded to unwrap the numerous bandages that covered the unconscious rosette. As each roll came off more angry red skin was revealed, there was no bubbling, which could easily be attributed to the Kyuubi's chakra, but it was exactly as Momoko had predicted, just between 2nd and 1st degree burns. 'Now that I think about it the Kyuubi probably cured whatever internal wounds she had and prevented her from getting any sort of brain damage. Even if Naruto got here as quickly as possible, which I know he didn't since he took a nap, Haruno-san would have undoubtedly succumbed to internal injuries or would have been left with permanent brain damage. All in all this could be a much worse situation, one where most scenarios resulted in the girl's death or early retirement from our shinobi forces. He truly is the most unpredictable knuckleheaded ninja. Using the Kyuubi's chakra like that should have killed her! He's one hell of a lucky kid.'

The end of Momoko's thoughts marked the end of the unwrapping process. The girl's naked form was a bit underdeveloped for a kunoichi, she really needed to fatten up and develop some sort of muscle definition. At least that's what Momoko had said last time she looked at the girl and should have told the Hokage who was right there with her, but what she saw caused her eyes to practically pop out of their sockets. She had… grown! If she had to give a rough estimate off the top of her head she would say the rosette was about five feet even and loser to 100 lbs. rather than her previously scrawny form. She had very obvious muscle definition and her tiny, nearly non-existent, breasts had drown to a supple B-cup if not slightly larger. Momoko was absolutely baffled. The girls hair had even grown suddenly! Now it reached to her shoulder blades.

"Ho-hokage-sama! I-I don't know what to say. She wasn't like this several hours ago!"

Placing a placating hand on the poor woman's shoulder the Hokage spoke, "Please Momoko-san, we've already talked about why the girl might be like this. This is clearly the Kyuubi's chakra at work. As a nurse you should know a person's chakra is made up by their physical and spiritual energies, clearly the Kyuubi's chakra by no doubt integrating with the girl's is greatly affecting her physical energies. It's probably forcing her to grow so that it can properly host her new chakra. But let's confirm this, would you do the scan we spoke of?"

Grateful for the Hokage's calming touch and the grounding caused by his logical deduction Momoko did as she was asked. After a minute of intense and thorough scanning Momoko told the Hokage what she found.

"I'm no Tsunade, but I'm no slouch either. This is difficult. Like you had guessed the girl's chakra makeup is slowly changing. As you know a bijuu's chakra tends to be red and a human's chakra tends to be blue. Since Sakura-san didn't have much chakra in the first place the Kyuubi's chakra has eclipsed hers by a large margin. Now the obvious result would be that the two chakras would mix and the patient would end up closer to a bijuu than a human. A possibility is that they would reject each other, but that obviously didn't occur since she didn't explode at any point. But what's happening is even weirder than this situation has been already. The Kyuubi's chakra is being absorbed by the girl's own. The color of her chakra is still changing to a deep purple, but her own chakra is staying dominant. Essentially she won't be having any surprising personality changes that would probably occur if the two chakra had simply integrated. That's all I can say though, like I said, I'm no Tsunade."

Unintentionally sounding harsh the Sandaime answered, "No you aren't, but that doesn't mean that I can't get my old student's drunken ass back here to examine the girl. Jiraiya is going to be here by the end of the test anyway to check on the last Uchiha, when the second exam is finished I'll send him out to search for his wayward teammate. Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to sound so harsh."

"I understand Hokage-sama. Back to the girl's condition my earlier estimate of her recovery time was spot on. She should be up and about tomorrow, if anything this event will leave her a much stronger Kunoichi. If her musculature gets the same benefits that her bones did she could probably lift 200 or so pounds above her head without the use of chakra. All the while she'll probably maintain a high level of flexibility and quickness. No shinobi's ideal body would have massive muscles so she probably won't look grotesque. Honestly, if my assumptions are accurate she will one day achieve the perfect female body, strong, lithe, and if the animalistic nature of the bijuu is anything to go off of, ideally capable of bearing numerous children, and bouncing back without issue. I'm jealous."

Looking at her Hokage she was greeted with the unfortunate view of a lecherous grin spread across his feature. His eyes were unfocused and he was clearly daydreaming about a sexy Sakura Haruno. Wanting to slap him, but knowing that wouldn't be in her best interest Momoko simply gently shook her Hokage's shoulder.

Disappointed that he was taken from his… less than appropriate daydream Hiruzen quickly schooled his features. "Well that's good, for her I mean, it's good for her. I, uh, must go Momoko-san, you know, things to do, a village to run and all that. You, uh, keep up the good work. I'll probably return tomorrow and I'll be here the sixth day as well. Have a good night." Having said his piece Sarutobi made a speedy exit, quite embarrassed at having been caught with less than chaste thoughts.

Momoko shook her head at her silly Hokage's actions. She then turned to her patient, 'This is quite the situation you are in huh Sakura-chan? Oh well, let me wrap you back up, I think it's time I went to bed.' Doing so Momoko then went to alert the night shift to their duty and fell into a restful slumber.

~AFT~

Bright lights nearly blinded Sakura as she very slowly and carefully tried to open her eyes. She blinked several times in rapid succession, trying to banish the dark spots that appeared in her vision as she opened her eyes even wider. A full two minutes later Sakura had her eyes completely open and staring at a white ceiling. Clearly she was in a hospital or infirmary, but for the life of her she couldn't remember why… Then she realized something was off, she didn't feel like she was in any sort of danger, just that something had changed and she didn't know what. Rotating her head from side to side the smart girl finally realized it, her vision was amazing! When she was looking around she learned that she had been situated in the very center of the infirmary, she assumed it was an infirmary given the lack of individual rooms and relatively small size, but could very clearly make out the cracks that covered the far cement wall through the open doorway. 'Wow! Assuming this room is about fifty feet by a hundred feet, making the entrance fifty feet away, and the hallway is about ten feet wide that's about sixty feet away! Every detail is as clear as day! What the hell happened to me that made me wake up like this?' She then sat up in an effort to further assess her odd, yet amazing situation. It was at that moment a figure clad in all orange casually strolled into the room, only to stop dead in its tracks the moment it saw her sitting up on her bed.

"SAKURA-CHAAAAAAAN! YOU'RE OK!" was the scream of an absolutely elated Naruto as he practically launched himself at his teammate. Seeing her up like this, awake and alive, was so awesome that Naruto could cry. Only he was stopped by a hard punch to the head.

"The hell do you think you're doing baka! Don't touch me! And way the hell am I in an infirmary… weren't we in the middle of… the… second… test…?" As she said those words the brutal attack that occurred finally came back to her; the flood of extremely painful memories caused her to physically flinch. It was then another realization dawned on her.

"Oh my Kami! Where's Sasuke? I don't see him, is he ok? Did he get hurt?" Not receiving an answer from her lesser teammate Sakura looked for him only to find him nursing the new bump on his head from her punch. "Hey! Get it together baka! Where's Sasuke-kun?"

Not wanting his longtime crush to get even madder at him Naruto quickly jumped to his feet and told her what the Hokage told him. "He was still unconscious for a while and when he woke up Jiji took him away along with Kakashi-sensei and the crazy examiner lady. He said the teme wouldn't be able to compete anymore… but we passed just fine!"

Ignoring his enthusiastic ending remark Sakura pressed for more details. "Where did he take him and why?"

Grumbling over the fact his crush couldn't let go of the damn teme even when he wasn't there with them Naruto answered. "I ain't gotta clue as to where he went, I just know that Jiji said he was very sick , but that they had the best medics working on him. So there's that."

Realized that her crush was alive and well Sakura finally remembered that Naruto had said that Sasuke had _still_ been unconscious for a while meaning her knight in shining armor couldn't have possibly saved her. A shame really. Dismissing Naruto as her potential savior Sakura asked who had done it.

"Hey, do you know who saved me from those oto nin? I was in a really bad way and even had to cut my… hair… to… get out?" Deeply confused Sakura ran her fingers through her long pink locks that reached the middle of her back. She knew she had cut it off to get away from her attacker so, what the hell?

Not realizing that Sakura was currently preoccupied with her magically returned hair Naruto answered her question. "Well I did, duh. Sakura? Sakura-chaaaaan? Are you listening to me? I said that I was the one who saved you… and the teme I guess."

Hearing the blonde idiot she had to deal with on an almost daily basis claim the impossible Sakura flipped out. "No way you saved me. It had to be Sasuke, those oto nin would have been way to strong for a wimp like you."

It sounded harsh, and it was, but Sakura feared her teammate going through the same thing she did. She didn't like him at all, he was loud, annoying, always fought with her Sasuke-kun, and wore that offending orange jumpsuit all the time, but she had been tortured and wouldn't wish that an her greatest enemy much less Naruto.

Slightly put off that she didn't believe him Naruto simply reaffirmed his statement. "No really Sakura-chan , I DID save you."

Still unable to believe Sakura responded, "Yeah right, and how would you have done that?"

"Well I beat them up!" ' _Really bad'_

"Oh, ok sure, you beat up three genin who I'm absolutely sure are stronger than you, and I mean each one individually."

Her last response made Naruto falter. He considered himself strong, but three on one is pushing it. "Well I… I…"

Having faltered for a moment too long Sakura smirked in victory. 'This idiot is trying to impress me with an obviously ridiculous tale. Hmph.' "See? You can't even tell me how, I know you're annoying, but I didn't think you were a liar too."

His heart broke when he heard those words. A very short battle as to whether or not reveal the true nature of his rescue occurred in his head. Choosing to tell her was an easy decision. "NO! I SAVED YOU I SWEAR IT! I… I..."

Naruto's outburst surprised and slightly scared the pink haired girl. A quick glance around the room revealed Naruto and her were alone, the nurse on duty must have taken a break. Looking at Naruto's distraught face Sakura allowed him to spin his tale instead of evoking a more… violent response.

Finally deciding on how to say it Naruto spoke, "D-Do you remember how the Kyuubi attacked the village when we were babies?"

"No duh, everyone knows how the Fourth defeated the beast at the sacrifice of his own life."

"Well what if I said… what if I told you he didn't kill it?"

"Then I wouldn't believe you Naruto, what the hell is your point?"

Taking a deep breath to calm his wildly beating heart Naruto continued. "Well he didn't kill it, he sealed it into a baby. That… that baby was me."

That statement made Sakura pause, then she laughed. "I know you're an attention monger, but to say something ridiculous like that? Get out of here Naruto. Seriously get out I want to rest." Naruto had drained her of all of her meager stamina, she truly was feeling fatigued.

Once again desperate Naruto pulled out his trump card. "Wait Sakura-chan! Look."

Sakura almost yelled at him when she saw him lift his shirt. 'What the hell is this idiot doing… now…' All of Sakura's thoughts stopped dead when an intricate tattoo suddenly appeared on Naruto's stomach. It was a big double spiral that was surrounded by weird scribblings, she would have dismissed it if it wasn't for the precise nature of the tattoo, or how it LITERALLY APPEARED OUT OF NOWHERE!

Pointing at his stomach and covering her wide open mouth Sakura yelled out, "Wha- What the hell is that Naruto?"

A somber look had overtaken the blonde's face, "It's the seal that holds in the Kyuubi, I told ya the Yondaime sealed it into me. Why…" Continuing was turning out to be hard for Naruto, his voice became low and slow. "Why do you think the villagers are so mean to me all the time? Why do you think your parents told you to stay away from me?"

Naruto knew Sakura had to have been told by her parents to stay away from him after they played together that day so many years ago. She wasn't the first or the last kid who did a sudden heel turn like that after playing with him for one day.

Sakura was shocked, she was flabbergasted, she was absolutely floored! She didn't know what to say! She never cared about Naruto enough to take notice of his life outside of him asking her for dates so she never witnessed his claimed mistreatment. Not really knowing what to say Sakura asked the first question that came to her mind.

"What do you mean the villagers are mean to you?"

Hearing her question only made Naruto sadder, he didn't want to answer truthfully, but he had already told her so much that a little more couldn't hurt… right? Quite out of character Naruto once again spoke lowly and slowly.

"Well… everyone keeps their kids away from me so I never got to play with anyone. I know they think their slick, but all of the shopkeepers sell me bad merch at really high prices… uhm… I was kicked out of the orphanage when I was six because they didn't want to "deal with the demon brat anymore." I was on the streets for almost a whole month before Jiji found out and set me up in a little apartment. The shopkeepers also extend to food people so I would get a rotten tomato for a thousand yen. Why do you think I always asked you out for ramen? Teuchi-ji and Akane-nee are the only ones who will serve me… Every year on my birthday mobs would chase me around town all day… sometimes they caught me. I-I-I…" Naruto had to stop talking because he had started crying.

Once again Sakura was at a loss for words. Naruto had clearly poured out his soul for her, there was no way she could doubt the words of the crying boy. With a mighty effort Sakura slipped out of her bed, she nearly fell but swinging her arms saved her from a harsh meeting with the floor. She was slightly thankful Naruto hadn't noticed her slight slip-up since he was preoccupied with wiping away his deluge of tears. Slowly and hesitantly Sakura wrapped her sensitive arms around her teammate. It was a slightly awkward hug since she was coming in from his side, but it was one Naruto clearly appreciated.

It took Naruto a moment to realize Sakura was giving him a hug, but when he did he instantly latched onto her. Eliciting a small squeak of surprise from the rosette Naruto engulfed her in a big bear hug and cried into her shoulder. For a moment Sakura looked like a deer caught in headlights, but she eventually, if awkwardly, hugged Naruto back and very hesitantly patted his head.

This simultaneously heart wrenching and adorable scene is what Momoko had walked in on when she returned to the infirmary from her lunch break. She had only been gone for half an hour so she hadn't called in for a replacement nurse, she had expected Naruto to visit Sakura again. She wasn't worried about leaving him alone since he had acted like a perfect gentleman. 'And him visiting her is just so cuuute, oh my kami it's like seeing a boyfriend visit his sick girlfriend, tragic but adorable.' But she hadn't expected the girl to wake up in the small amount of time in which she wasn't present. It wasn't too concerning, but now she would have to wait a while to confirm whatever she needed to be confirmed concerning the girl's health. 'Ah well, I guess I leave the two alone for now and go get Hokage-sama.' With that final thought Momoko was gone, leaving the prankster and the bookworm to their tender moment.

~AFT~

 **AN: I know I know, I'm a bit evil to leave this like this, but the chapter was getting on the long side and Naruto and Sakura's moment is going to continue for a while so I had to cut it off somewhere. With such a hardcore cliffhanger (in my mind) like this you readers can be at ease since the next chapter is already mostly written. If I had to guess you guys can expect the next chapter by Wednesday.**

 **Also, these chapters are not beta'd so I will miss some grammar stuff for sure. I usually edit my own works, but it's late and I want to get this chapter out there. Expect an edit before chapter three comes out, or when chapter three comes out.**

 **So please review and be critical as it is the only way I can grow as an author. And if you guys like my style of writing and DBZ/The Gamer or PJO check out my other stories. Thank you!**

~AFT~

 **Edit: Not much of anything I think… no need to reread.**


	3. Changes

**AN: Once again, apologies for the cliffhanger. I can't help but feel like no one read the last chapter for some reason so please make sure you've read chapter two before this one.**

~AFT~

 **Edit: I'm beginning to think this wasn't necessary… ah well the edits continue. So once again I'll tell you guys if you need to reread anything at the bottom. New readers can ignore this.**

~AFT~

Chapter 2 Summary: Naruto tries to find out why Hiruzen removed Sasuke from the exams without success. When they arrive at the infirmary Hiruzen converses with the nurse on duty, Momoko Fukuyama, and learns about Sakura's amazing recovery. The next day Sakura wakes up and Naruto pours out his heart to her and informs her about the Kyuubi. It's all very emotional.

~AFT~

Chapter 3: Changes

It took a couple of minutes for Naruto to calm down and Sakura's attention was wholly on him so neither noticed Momoko observe them and leave. When he heaved his last sob Naruto slowly untangled himself from Sakura's glorious embrace and wiped his tear streaked and snot covered face. He certainly didn't define classy, but a good hard cry like that usually leaves you an absolute mess, so Sakura couldn't fault him for that.

Wiping her shoulder a bit to clean it of tears, hopefully just tears, Sakura realized something… she wasn't wearing clothes! At least not real clothes, a glance down at the rest of her body revealed she was wrapped up like a mummy! Not wanting to freak out in front of the emotionally vulnerable boy Sakura "casually" (extremely awkwardly) climbed back into bed and covered her body. Turning her head to show her teammate that he had her undivided attention Sakura waited for him to start speaking.

When he finally calmed down enough to look around Naruto was surprised to find Sakura in bed, fully covered by her blanket except for her head. Dismissing the odd behavior in favor thanking her Naruto spoke up, this time his voice was soft and a bit slow, as if he was carefully thinking about each word he said. "Thank you Sakura-chan it means a lot." Taking a deep breath Naruto continued his tale.

"So yeah… they hate me 'cuz I hold the Kyuubi, apparently a lot of 'em think I'm some sort of reincarnation of the monster. Did ya' ever wonder how I was allowed to become a shinobi? Or why Mizuki-sensei wasn't at the meeting that told us our teams?"

Seeing the girl shake her head in the affirmative Naruto continued.

"Well as you saw that day I failed, couldn't do the bunshin. So after everyone had cleared out with their parents to celebrate Mizuki-sen-" Naruto stopped himself to correct his words. "Mizuki- _teme_ came to me and told me about a secret exam to allow kids… like me to graduate. He said I had to steal the Forbidden Scroll and bring it to him, so like a dumbass I did it. Well, it turns out he was betraying the village and killing me was icing on the cake. Luckily Iruka-sensei showed up and I was able to beat Mizuki up. I think he was executed… Anyway that's the biggest thing anyone's ever done to me as revenge against the fox." Naruto's eyes were trained on the floor when he finished, he hoped Sakura didn't think he was too pathetic or anything…

Sakura wanted to cry, correction, Sakura was crying, silent tears flowed over her eyes. It was a bit uncomfortable crying into one of her eyes, but she'd rather do that than sit up and reveal her lack of clothing… again. She wanted to console him, but how could she as someone who treated him so badly for so many years? Of course she had listened to her parents, they were her parents! They were never wrong! They only did things for her benefit, so why turn her on Naruto? Did they hate him too? Sakura might not know much about fuinjutsu, but she knew enough to realize that a scroll is not the kunai that was sealed into it, just like how Naruto wasn't the Kyuubi because it was sealed into him. He was too dumb to be an ancient beast of rage and destruction anyhow!

Not hearing a response Naruto continued with his explanation. "Do you remember back when we were in Wave and we fought those missing nin on the bridge? The guy me and Sasuke were fighting was insanely tough, you saw how Sasuke was after the fight right?"

Sakura nodded.

"Well, when I thought the guy had killed the teme I flipped out and used the Kyuubi's chakra. It made me crazy strong and fast so I was able to beat the guy up. The same thing happened when I found you, and if it isn't obvious I like you _way_ more than I do Sasuke, so I flipped out bad. Real bad. Most of what happened is a haze of blood, I killed those oto nin, ripped them apart, because of what they did to you."

Naruto was practically shaking, out of anger or the bad memories Sakura didn't know. All she did know was that she hoped Naruto didn't "flip out" right now, that would be very bad for her health.

"You were _dying_ Sakura, I didn't know what to do… so I did what felt right." Naruto paused and looked up into Sakura's eyes. He was clearly nervous about what he was about to say.

"Naruto, whatever you did it's ok, I'm alive right. You saved me… right?" Naruto looked like he was going to cry again which would be bad because if he cried then Sakura would cry too.

"I don't think you'll like what I did. I… I pushed the Kyuubi's chakra into you. A lot of it. You were screaming, you were screaming so damn loud I thought I was torturing you. But you lived. The wrapped up guy had the scroll we needed so after a short nap I got us to the tower as quickly as possible. If you were wondering it's little after noon on the fourth day."

Sakura was shell shocked, flabbergasted, she was absolutely floored. She didn't know whether to rage at Naruto for causing her pain like that or thank him for saving her. There would be repercussions, of that she was sure, but she didn't want to think about them right then. Her teammate, whom she had treated so cruelly, had been put in a brand new light that really showed off his positive characteristics. He was loyal, that she had known for a long time it was just overshadowed by his many negative qualities. He was strong, or at least he could be, even without the Kyuubi's chakra he had beaten up Mizuki sensei. He was caring, Sakura wouldn't be surprised if he had been coming to visit her every moment he was allowed, and some that he wasn't. The thought brought an honest to goodness blush to Sakura's slightly red cheeks cheeks. Pushing down the rising warmth Sakura concentrated on building up the blonde she had torn down for so long.

He was strong in an emotional and mental way, Sakura knew that if she was in Naruto's place she wouldn't have made it as far as he had. It was clear to her now that the attention seeking, loudmouthed brat she knew had hidden so much hurt from the world that perhaps it was all a facade. A mask put up in an effort to deal with the heavy burdens he bared on a daily basis, at least if the emotionally drained and extremely subdued Naruto she had been talking to was any indication. Of course it could just be his nature but then Sakura would have to question his sanity.

Naruto was scared, after telling Sakura what he had done to her she grew quiet and stared up at the empty white ceiling. The silence seemed to last an eternity until Sakura's voice broke it.

"Thank you."

A shocked Naruto's head shot up faster than a speeding bullet. The simple words seemed to surround him and smother him in like an affectionate hug, filling him with a joy that words could not describe. Tears brimmed at the edges of his eyes as he answered, "Hehe… no problem Sakura-chan." A short pause filled the room, then Naruto filled it, "So… you're not mad that it was me who put you in here?" He looked back at his crush's face. She was still looking up at the ceiling, but she seemed… content, as though thanking him had relieved her of something.

It had. Hearing everything that happened to Naruto from his own mouth made her feel terrible about herself. What made it worse was that she just compounded his plight by her own… violent spurning of his date offers. She felt as though thanking him genuinely was the first step in a right direction.

"Of course I'm a little mad you ended up hurting me so badly, but if how I felt before I passed out was anything to go by I probably would have died… so again, thank you."

Naruto could jump for joy, but he didn't because in that moment Konoha's third hokage walked in. Very quickly Naruto went silent and still, reacting as if he had been caught doing something wrong. A confused look from his Jiji pulled him out of his odd state after which he sheepishly scratched his head while smiling an awkward smile.

"What am I going to do with you Naruto? Hohoho, ah well. How is Sakura doing?"

When Hiruzen finally sidled up to the edge of the hospital bed that held the rosette he was surprised to be greeted by her intelligent eyes. She was clearly studying him, a bit of awe and respect practically emanating from her. She was also a bit afraid, 'Good, at least some people know how to show proper respect nowadays.'

"Hokage-sama" was Sakura's awed whisper. "It's an honor." it was then that her features gained a confused look like is had moments earlier. "But why are you here?"

Hiruzen was a bit hesitant to respond given she was one of the younger generation and he wasn't about to break his own law! He decided upon simply wording the Kyuubi's chakra in a different way and hoped she didn't catch on.

"Well you see Sakura, when Naruto went to save you he did something odd. It's actually the reason why you have only recently woken up, it has been two full days since you were attacked by the way. Anyway, what Naruto did to you was very dangerous so we've been carefully monitoring your healing so that no… odd.. effects… appear."

Hiruzen couldn't stop his words from tapering off into silence once he saw what he had been afraid to find. Atop the girl's head were two distinctly triangular bumps that were much bigger than the day before. If Hiruzen had to guess he'd say that by this time tomorrow she'd probably have fully grown fox ears. A quick glance to the side of her head confirmed that at the very least her human ears weren't just disappearing, but it was all still disconcerting.

Sakura was confused when the Hokage suddenly lost interest in talking to her. After waiting a minute she finally said what she had been wanting to say.

"If you're talking about Naruto using the Kyuubi's chakra to hurt but heal me then you don't have to worry. He already told me everything… _everything_." She then turned her head to send a reassuring smile towards the surprisingly quiet boy. 'The Hokage must chill him out or something…'

It took a moment for Hiruzen to internalize Sakura's words, but when he did all he could do was gape at the two young ninja before him. His eyes finally rested on Naruto and he asked the obvious question, "Why did you tell her? I thought you weren't going to tell any of your friends, something about them hating you I believe?" He couldn't help but chuckle at the end of his question. In all honesty he was very happy for the boy, it was good for him to share and it was just bonus points that he did so first with his longtime crush.

Naruto could only sheepishly rub his head once again. "C'mon Jiji, I was… kidding back then, yeah… I was kidding."

"Oh do relax Naruto, I was also joking." Turning to Sakura his joyful eyes suddenly had a hard, dangerous edge. "I don't know if Naruto told you, but this information is an S-Class secret, divulging this information to any unauthorized personnel will result in your immediate execution. Am I clear?

Seeing that Sakura was clearly disturbed and scared Naruto jumped to her defense. "Hey! Cut it out Jiji. She wouldn't tell anyone." he looked at Sakura for confirmation. She quickly and eagerly shook her head 'yes', still scared of what her Hokage could do to her.

"See? She won't be telling anyone. Alright Jiji?"

Sarutobi was noticeably taken back. He quickly schooled his features to that of a stern Hokage and began to carefully analyze what just happened. 'Does Naruto care more about Sakura than he does me? If so how much does he care about the village? And if Sakura returns his affections then I'm sure she would have ultimate control over him. He already worships the ground she walks… Ehhh, I worry too much. I'm too damn old for this, besides, I can't think of a good reason for her to betray the Leaf.'

"I hope you realize what you've been entrusted with Sakura." Quickly glancing at Naruto did the trick, Sakura followed his gaze but didn't turn back to look at him. "It is Naruto's choice to tell or not tell his secret to whomever he wants. You are the first, be proud of that."

Pausing a moment to let his statement sink in Hiruzen continued speaking, this time on the reason he originally came. It was at that moment in which he opened his mouth that Nurse Fukuyama and several other doctors entered the infirmary, intent on studying Sakura.

"This was actually what I came to more or less warn you about. You see, rather you haven't freaked out so you probably don't see, but at the moment you seem to be healing very quickly and… growing some… extra appendages."

Sakura laid stock still. 'Kami above this is what I was worried about. Deep breaths Sakura, deep breaths. Let's see… the Kyuubi is a demon fox soooo…' Ever so slowly raising her hand to her head Sakura felt to very distinct bumps that were perfectly symmetrical on her head. They were also in a straight line from one human ear to the other, she assumed they would be ears soon, and covered in a light, soft fuzz. Rubbing them a bit Sakura felt the distinctly odd urge to purr. 'Awww hell.'

Confirming one change Sakura set out to find any others. A bit of exploration revealed no extra fur anywhere it didn't need to be, but when she reached for her back she found it. A tail! She was growing a goddam tail! It was very short at the moment, no more than six inches, but the fur on it was already pretty bushy. Once again lightly rubbing the extra appendage she noticed that the fur was ridiculously soft and once again she was feeling the distinct urge to purr. Suppressing it and laying back down flat on her bed Sakura opened her eyes, which she hadn't realized she had closed, and blushed.

The doctors, Hokage, and Naruto, especially Naruto, were staring at her intently. She cleared her throat to get their attention and spoke, "Uhhh, well from what I felt I have a fox tail and some ears… I guess you guys can study me or whatever…"

Momoko who was the most familiar with the girl and her situation cleared her throat to speak, "Alright, I can't imagine that this will be comfortable for you Sakura so I and another _female_ colleague of mine will be conducting a thorough physical of you once everyone else is out of the room." She ended her statement with a harsh glare at the rest of the doctors and nurses as if daring them to say otherwise.

Not a peep was spoken, even from the Hokage, and with a shooing motion everyone did as they had been ordered. Momoko put her hand on Nurse Kitoaji as as sign for her to stay back. Mari was an older nurse in her late forties who was well-known for being extremely motherly to any and all patients that she came across. It had actually earned her the nickname Mom which most of the nurses and regular patients called her.

"Mari, I want you to help me out with Sakura-chan, I just know your presence will go a long way to making this a successful physical." Mari simply nodded her head in understanding and waited for the room to empty.

Just as the last doctor was leaving Momoko spoke up, "Actually wait a moment," glancing quickly at Sakura, Momoko continued, "please contact Hana Inuzuka and ask her to report here as quickly as possible for an emergency." The doctor nodded his head in understanding before slipping out the door and closing it behind him.

Taking a deep breath to calm herself Momoko spoke once again. "I know you want to be here to take care of Sakura Naruto, but we will take really good care of her so don't worry, ok?"

A slightly nervous Naruto rose up from the far side of Sakura's bed. "You got me… but-"

"No "buts" Naruto."

"Wait wait wait wait wait wait wait!" He spoke so quickly the words blurred together. "What if… what if I was a girl too?"

That certainly threw the nurses for a loop. Their first instinct was that Naruto was just being a pervert and wanted to see her naked, but the look in his eyes said otherwise. He felt responsible for Sakura's circumstances, which he was, and it was tearing him up. If all he could do was be there for her then he will. Such passion bowled over whatever protests Mari and Momoko had.

Hesitantly Momoko spoke, "Well, I guess if you were a girl I could give you a pass… consider this an in depth anatomy lesson ok?

"...Anato-what?"

Momoko drew in a deep, shuddering breath, this was going to be very tough. Before she could go into a long discussion she felt Mari's hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry Fukuyama-san, I'll deal with the boy. Why don't you talk with our patient for a bit as I prep him."

Relieved that she wouldn't have to suffer through the ordeal that would be teaching Naruto, and happy for the boy since Mari was probably the best teacher he could have, Momoko turned to Sakura. Seeing that the girl was nervous she sat at the edge of the bed and soothingly spoke to her.

"Hey Sakura-chan it's going to be alright, ok? First off, you're not a freak, just gifted. Think of whatever new discoveries we make about your body as a Kekkei Genkai, which in all honesty they just might be. Now the big question is: Are you ok with Naruto sticking around?"

Without hesitation Sakura answered, "Of course, he… he… I don't know. I guess on some level he'll understand what it's like to be different and even if this is his fault I can't be too mad at him, he was trying to save my life after all." Blushing slightly she continued, "Him choosing to be a girl also helps, it would've been kind of weird if he was just staring at me…" at that point Sakura's blush was reaching down her neck and under her bandages.

Chuckling a bit at the girl's demeanor Momoko responded, "Well that's good, to be honest I'm really interested on how he'll be a girl because a normal henge won't cut it."

Glancing over at Naruto and Mari she was surprised to see a naked, well-developed teenage girl instead of the short blonde-haired kid calmly conversing with Mari. Curiosity thoroughly peaked she left the rosette to her thoughts and went over to the pair.

"Well that's very impressive Naruto-chan, but tell me, is this just a normal henge?" was what Momoko heard when she got close enough to the senior nurse and prankster.

"Kind of, I actually call it the Sexy Technique, but it's basically a henge." Naruto answered quite honestly.

"Well a henge is not good enough, mainly because I doubt you will be able to concentrate enough to maintain it the entire time we're working on Sakura. I'm sorry honey, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Momoko nodded her head in agreement with Mari's words, a kid like Naruto probably couldn't hold a good henge for more than five minutes which would be way too short of a time.

Naruto's beautiful face scrunched up in confusion, "Maintain it? Why would I have to maintain it?"

Once again the nurses were thrown for a loop, was this kid claiming to not have to concentrate on his henge? "Well Naruto a good henge takes concentration and extensive knowledge on whatever you're transforming into. If you wanted to henge into a girl for as long as it takes for us to give Sakura her physical I would say you have Jonin level ability with the technique."

This only confused Naruto more, "The heck you talking about? I just wanna be someone so I do it!"

This time Mari spoke, "Can I touch you then? A high quality henge can deal with a lot of stress, even damage."

While a bit unsure about getting hurt Naruto acquiesced, if he could spend more time with Sakura he would do anything.

'The most amazing of henge can bleed without dispelling, let's see what Naruto-chan can do.' thought Mari. She then reached towards the whiskered girl's cheeks and pinched them. The henge did not fail. Then she stretched them until Naruto complained, chuckling a bit Mari spoke, "Ok, I can't do this next part so you have to let Nurse Fukuyama touch you ok?"

It was a bit tough for Naruto to switch nurses just as he was becoming comfortable with one, but he got over it. 'Sakura!Sakura!Sakura!Sakura!Sakura!' was the chant that kept him going.

Momoko understood why Mari couldn't continue, she was too kind to hurt anything, much less a little boy… teenage girl. Mari took her seat in front of Naruto.

"Alright this next stuff will probably hurt but I'll be healing you immediately ok?

Another hesitant nod was all Naruto could offer.

Seeing his nod Momoko took out a scalpel and made a small incision on the girl's arm. She flinched but the henge never dropped. Spurred on by the surprisingly good henge Momoko made a cut that spanned all of the teen's arm. Again a flinch and low hiss of pain, but the henge did not drop. Now Momoko was perplexed, this henge was amazing! But the only henge that could take this sort of wear and tear, literally, were… permanent ones. At this realization Momoko quickly turned toward her colleague.

"Mari, I think the boy makes a permanent henge, actually..." She turned to look at the female Naruto, "What was the longest time you spent in a henge?"

Thought the answer wasn't a difficult one the possible follow-up question as to why was one Naruto didn't want to answer. 'But these nurses seem nice enough… and they are old enough to know about the Kyuubi already…' Steeling himself Naruto answered.

"Well, one time on my birthday I spent a good day and a half in a henge, I even slept twice since I didn't want to turn off the henge till I knew I was safe…" Naruto turned his large doe eyes towards the women as if begging them to be nice.

Hearing the boy's plight tore at the hearts of both women, they never hated the boy for what he held… she held. Either way what Naruto had done was astounding, his henge was a permanent one he simply willed in and out of existence! Mari was the first to speak.

"That's amazing Naruto-chan! But if you don't mind I'd like to do one last test, can you lay on one of the beds?"

This caused Momoko to look at her senior questioningly, she had an idea of what Mari wanted to do, and she'd be lying to herself if she was interested as well, but the boy might object.

Naruto was a bit unsure, but these nurses had been nothing but kind so he did as he was told. Once he had laid himself out, undoing his long pigtails so they weren't in the way Naruto called out that he was ready.

Hearing that the nurses walked up to the bed one on either side. This time it was Momoko who spoke. "Ok Naruto we're going to put you to sleep for this part, is that fine with you?"

Naruto had a very hard time trusting people, but these nurses were nice, and he needed to be with Sakura, so he gave them an affirmative head shake and tried to relax as much as possible.

It was Mari who cast the genjutsu. "Dreamless Sleep Technique." It was an easy enough jutsu, one that most nurses and doctors learn early on in their education, but it was amazingly useful.

"Alright Fukuyama-san, I think we're on the same page so let's do this as quickly as possible."

A serious expression on her face Momoko nodded as she put on a pair of rubber gloves.

~AFT~

One gynecological exam later and the nurses were floored. Naruto was for all intents and purposes a bonafide woman, if she so pleased she could birth a child! That was another thing… how did Naruto think of… herself? That would be easy enough to answer when she woke up.

"Kai." Said Mari, to release the technique on the girl.

Blearily opening his eyes Naruto asked the question he had since before he went to sleep, "Can I stay with Sakura now?"

Surprised by the question, but endeared by the girl's single-minded dedication to her crush Momoko answered.

"Yes you can Naruto-chan, but I have a question for you? Are you a boy or a girl?"

Naruto looked at her like she was stupid, "I'm a boy, duh."

'So no gender confusion is caused by the technique, that's good to know.' Mari thought. "Well, Naruto. What you don't know is that your technique turns you into a girl-"

"Well yeah that's the point."

Mari simply smiled at the interruption. "Ah, but you probably don't know that you could be a mother if you wanted to huh? You said that this was your Orioke no Jutsu, but I think all of your henge can be permanent."

"Oh…"

Naruto blushed, he didn't know what to say. It was kind of cool that his henge was special, but it was extremely weird to think he could live out the rest of his life as a girl. 'I wouldn't want to do that anyway, I like Sakura-chan… unless…' Shaking his head to rid himself of such perverted thoughts the blushing Naruto got out of the bed he was laying on.

"I think Sakura would prefer if I had clothes on, can you give me some?"

Having thought ahead Momoko had already grabbed some scrubs that she thought would fit the… boy. 'I honestly have to remind myself that he's a boy, that henge is just so astounding, actually, it might have something to do with the fox…' She handed them over and Naruto slipped them on his busty physique.

"Alright! Now I'm Nurse Naruto! Teehee." He giggled. "Let's go check up on Sakura-chan now!"

That was the other thing, whether he was doing it on purpose or subconsciously Naruto as playing the part of a girl very well, even if it was a bit of a dumb-blonde act.

All of the nurses, Naruto included, stood around the sleeping Sakura's bed, she had fallen asleep a bit after Momoko went over to Mari and Naruto. It was Naruto who gently shook the girl awake.

Sakura opened her eyes only to be greeted by a blonde with pigtails, she almost freaked out but then she saw the whisker marks, Naruto's whisker marks.

"Na-Naruto?"

The busty blonde giggled in response. "In the flesh Sakura-chan! Since I'm a girl right now I can stay with you!"

Seeing that Sakura was still slightly confused as to how Naruto wasn't simply in a henge at the moment Mari explained the situation.

"You see Sakura, Naruto has a very unique henge. It's actually permanent." Wanting to make the boy squirm she continued, "Actually, if he wanted to get pregnant he could."

Seeing Naruto's blushing face made Sakura laugh. Only Naruto would do something as ridiculous as make a simple henge capable of procreation, but she was glad. Now she could have Naruto near her and not feel uncomfortable.

"How about we get these bandages off of you and get started. I want to make sure you kids can have your first dinner together at a reasonable time." Seeing the girls blush filled Momoko with an inexplicable warmth, they were just so adorable together!

A fully naked Sakura laid on her back looking into Naruto's bright blue orbs, how could she have missed how beautiful they were? Easily, until recently she despised the boy, but now she could appreciate him as did her… and she desperately needed a distraction from the fact that she was now buck naked.

'Am I falling for this blonde idiot? No way… Sasuke-kun is still the one for me! I'll… I'm just being nice to Naruto now.'

But she doubted herself, like Sasuke Naruto now had an incredibly tragic past and unlike Sasuke he liked her. Sakura wasn't a fool, she had just been hoping her constant praise and admiration would one day get through the Uchiha's broody exterior.

As the young girls simply stared at each other Momoko and Mari got to work. Diagnosis jutsu quickly revealed that Sakura's growing appendages would be fully functional soon. An examination of her brain revealed no irregularities. Her eyes on the other hand were a completely different story, she had grown a tapetum behind her retinas meaning her eyes will glow in the dark much like many nocturnal animals. She also had grown several rods which would give her good eyesight, her eyes have become the perfect fusion between fox and human. A quick look at her pupils revealed they were becoming slitted.

Opening her mouth revealed that her incisors had grown quite a bit. Her tongue had elongated a bit beyond what was normal for a human and had grown many microscopic spines and whiskers that were practically identical to a foxes. Just as Momoko was going to prod with a popsicle stick Hana Inuzuka entered the infirmary. All eyes immediately turned to her.

"Uhhh… hello, I was called in for an emergency? But I don't see any animals around…"

She trailed off as her eyes landed on Sakura, the pink haired girls smelled distinctly of a fox and the blonde nurse also had prominent whisker marks and a faintly fox-like smell.

Momoko's voice roused Hana out of her contemplation, "Inuzuka-san, what you learn here will be considered an S-Class secret for the next twenty-four hours. The only ones you are allowed to converse with on the subject will be those within this room and the Hokage. You know what the punishment is for revealing an S-Class secret… Anyway you were brought here for your veterinary expertise, I assume you have worked on a fox before?"

"Yes, ma'am, but how will-"

Interrupting her Momoko continued. "You see Naruto here," she said while pointing to the whiskered teenager in the scrubs, "decided that the only way to save his beloved Sakura-chan was to pump as much of the Kyuubi's chakra into her as he could."

Hana gasped, first from seeing the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki in female form and then from hearing what he did to the girl.

"Fortunately his insane idea worked out and Sakura is obviously alive. The only issue is that here have been many… side effects. Some of them good, actually most if them good. What we are concerned about is how her changes are affecting her in the negative sense, if they are at all. If it hasn't been made obvious the Kyuubi's chakra has accelerated her natural healing ability to the extreme, if she had healed normally there was no way for Sakura to continue being a shinobi, there is also no doubt in my mind that she would have been horribly disfigured as well."

This information deeply disturbed Sakura, Hana, and Naruto. Looking at her now none of them could have very imagined things being that bad.

"Anyway, please change into some hospital scrubs and put on some gloves, you already know the safety procedures. Join us quickly."

As Hana got changed the small group surrounding Sakura's bed, including Sakura, was silent. Before the silence could grow awkward, rather before Naruto could start saying random things just to fill the silence, Hana returned.

Immediately she began examining Sakura as the nurses had, only this time she threw in some diagnosis jutsu created to get full body examinations from animals. She even used a couple of fox specific diagnostic jutsu, though those were very very small in number, only about three or four. What Hana discovered was astonishing, she still needed to physically examine her, but what she found so far was pretty important.

Straightening out her thoughts so that she could tell the nurses and patient everything she figured out Hana spoke. "Alright, first of all, you're perfectly healthy, if anything you're more than just healthy. As I'm sure the nurses have already discovered your muscles and bones are extremely dense, if I had to guess you probably weigh somewhere close to a hundred and fifty pounds. The density also means that you are and will grow many times stronger than your peers as well as your bones being naturally harder than the best chakra metal. Yet despite all of that you should be extremely limber and agile, able to perform the most complicated of contortions. As for the inner workings of your body not much has changed besides the addition of some scent glands and what I imagine is a boost to your immune system. Oh and your metabolism is probably very high, when you leave you'll probably find yourself eating more than your average bodybuilder…" She seemed as though she was going to continue, but hesitated for a moment.

Momoko knew they needed to know everything. "Please Hana-san, we need to know every detail, for Sakura's sake."

"Well… I don't know if you've found this out already or not, but her chakra coils have grown to a tremendous size, if I had to compare I'd say somewhere close to an active duty jounin's. The only negative I could think of is that her chakra control is going to be shot for a while. What's concerning is that the color of her chakra is an extremely dark shade of purple. I can only imagine it's because the Kyuubi's combined with hers and so far it doesn't seem to be affecting her negatively, like burning her from within, it just makes me uneasy. Now I have to physically examine her, I'd like the help of one of you please."

Mari volunteered and after telling her they already checked her mouth and what they found Hana agreed that that was all that could have changed. A quick mammogram revealed two things, one, Sakura's breasts were extremely sensitive, and two, they were about a B-cup which was a whole cup size larger than what Sakura had going into the forest. They probably weren't going to quickly grow again, but they would definitely be large in the future, something that made Sakura very happy, she had always been worried she'd grow up to have small boobs. Traveling further downwards only revealed how toned Sakura's body had become, another wonderful perk. An examination of her hands revealed that while the skin was amazingly soft it had thickened to an extreme degree, probably to allow her to travel on all fours. Her feet revealed the same thing.

The gynecological examination went perfectly fine, there weren't any "foxy" additions for which Sakura was very grateful. A final overview caught the fact that Sakura's nails had become extremely durable and shockingly sharp, they could probably rip through sheets of steel. Which actually was quickly affirmed when Hana run her thumb over her pinky toenail and cut herself, _through her thick, latex glove_ . Finally her ears and tail would keep growing until they reached completion, the tail would probably end up close to four feet long.

Having completed the examination Hana said her final thoughts. "Sakura-chan you're perfectly safe, besides your chakra, which we'll monitor regularly, every change that has occurred is happening benignly and overwhelmingly to your benefit. If anything you're on track to become a super kunoichi, I can't wait to see what your future holds. Oh and your natural abilities to see, smell, taste, touch, and hear will undoubtedly become extremely advanced." She then leaned in to whisper in the girl's ear. "I don't think you want everyone to know this which is why I'm whispering. Since you've taken on so many fox-like features and your genetic makeup has clearly changed you might be subject to a heat cycle, aka really wanting to have sex and get pregnant. For a fox it usually happens once a year and lasts for about one to six days, just try to hide away from the world until it blows over and before you get your hopes up since fox years are about six for every human one you would have been experiencing heat from the age of six. Of course," Hana paused for a moment to meaningfully glance at the Naruto, "you could always find someone to satisfy you…" Backing away from her lengthy talk with Sakura, leaving the girl a bright red blushing mess, Hana turned to look at the rest of the room's inhabitants.

"If that is all I will be leaving, have to pull night duty at the vet now."

Momoko was the one who responded to her, "Of course, of course, thank you so much."

With that Hana was gone.

"Alright, seeing as your skin is almost completely healed now, and you have zero damage anywhere on your body you are free to go Haruno-san. If you so wish I'll get you some clothes right now."

Sakura nodded, she really wanted to get out of there and somewhere more… comfortable.

"Alright then, Mari, you should go inform the Hokage and the rest of the doctors about all that we have learned. I'm sure our colleagues will want to see Sakura, but tell them they cannot unless she says otherwise." Momoko then left to grab some clothes that would fit the girl.

Since they were now alone Naruto and Sakura simply stared at each other.

Throughout the entire examination process Naruto had helped where he could but otherwise just listened intently on what the nurses and Hana had said. He had been deathly afraid for Sakura's well being from the moment he saw her in the clearing up until a few minutes ago. Now he was able to say he actually made her a better kunoichi through his desperate actions. He also couldn't deny that while he loved her before this, her natural… enhancements definitely made her much more attractive. Thinking about it Sakura seemed to just ooze beauty and power no matter how awkward or uncomfortable she was at the moment. If Naruto had been asked who was the most beautiful woman in the world at that moment, and every moment of his life thereafter, he would answer "Sakura" without hesitation.

Sakura was in a bit of a daze, everything seemed to be coming up "Sakura" when it come to the way her body was changing, up until the very end. Sakura had always wanted to be with Sasuke, he was so awesome and cool and strong and deliciously tragic, but if her… heats… needed to be dealt with she knew that there was no way Sasuke would help with them. With everything that had happened she knew without a doubt she could ask Naruto and not be disappointed. Whether she realized it or not Naruto was slowly becoming her first choice. The rationalization was easy, why go for a man who ignored you and treated you like an annoyance when there was a man who would treat you like the princess you deserved to be treated? Sakura knew that she could change Naruto in a positive way, he had already shown a serious side, if she could get him to study up he could be perfect. It's rare you find a loudmouthed genius.

They hadn't spoken a word to each other, simply absorbing themselves into the other's eyes. The return of Nurse Fukuyama distracted them enough to break the heavy atmosphere. She looked at them with a curious glint in her eyes, but she didn't say anything about the scene she had walked into. It seemed… intimate.

"Here you go Miss Haruno, once you're dressed Naruto will release his henge and you kids can skedaddle on over to the cafeteria. Try not to do any extraneous activities tonight and dare I say it, you'll be at full health tomorrow morning. The big thing will undoubtedly be the odd looks you'll get from the other competitors so I suggest you practice your henge until you can hold it for an hour since there is a meeting at the end of the test."

Sakura was going to protest that she could do a henge just fine until she remembered she had just received a massive increase to her chakra reserves. One of the things she took great pride in was her perfect chakra control, though she knew it was in part due to the minuscule amount of chakra she had before her… change. Now that was gone and she'd have to work very hard to get it where it was, unless the Kyuubi somehow could grant her the perfect control she might have lost… a silly thought.

"Thank you I will." Receiving her clothes and slipping them on, the shirt was a women's small which was to accommodate her larger breasts and longer torso, and her skirt was two sizes larger than the one she used to wear. Standing up Sakura realized she felt a bit taller and it wasn't until Naruto released his Sexy Technique that she understood how much she had grown.

"What, Sakura-chan you're so tall!"

And from Naruto's perspective it was true. Unlike before where she was only an inch and a half taller than him, she now towered almost five inches above him.

Momoko spoke up, "Well yes, I believe we had said she was becoming the perfect Kunoichi, I believe that the Kyuubi's chakra was doing it purposefully. Let me see, yes, you're just under 5'2" right now Miss Haruno." Momoko had cast a medical jutsu that precisely told the caster their patient's height.

"Wow." was all the rosette could say. Thinking about it, that made her the tallest out of her team since Sasuke was only around five feet tall at the moment.

"Well I'm going to go now, I'm sure we'll be getting many patients tonight and tomorrow morning since the chuunin hopefuls mostly trickle in during the last two days of competition." with her part said Momoko went to an attached office leaving the two alone for the last time.

"Thank you Fukuyama-san! Alright Sakura let's go eat I'm starving!"

Sakura opened her mouth to tell her teammate to chill out and that they didn't need to rush, but her stomach betrayed her by gurgling quite loudly. Sakura's blush was a deep red that ran down her neck and disappeared into her shirt. She couldn't protest as Naruto simply laughed and grabbed her arm, dragging her to the cafeteria.

~AFT~

 **AN: Wooohoooo! All done, probably my fastest update ever. This chapter just begged to be written, it also ended up really long, but I'm ok with that. I think I covered everything I wanted too.**

 **For anyone worried, Sakura won't be super OP. She'd certainly strong on a super human level even for the Naruto universe, but her chakra control is shot and she'll have to acclimate to her new appendages and height.**

 **The preliminaries are next and they'll be definitely different than canon. For those wondering I will be deciding the fights according to an idea that can be found in the amazing story** **Chunin Exam Day** **. Basically the idea is that the matches are decided so that a ninja that would put on a good showing or deserved to be a chunin is matched up with a weak ninja for an easy victory. Lee the chakraless genin versus Gaara the jinchuuriki. Naruto the one move wonder who was also the academy dead last versus Kiba the son of the Inuzuka matriarch. Sasuke the talented last uchiha versus a gimmicky nobody. Kankuro and versus the nobody. Temari versus the single gimmick orphan ninja tool girl. Do you see what I mean. Whether or not it's the canon reasoning, or if the matches were truly random doesn't matter that's what I'll be going with.**

 **Anyway please drop a review. I do edit these before posting them, but I can't catch everything. Final edits are usually posted mid-week. Please be critical as I will always strive to write the best stories I can.**

~AFT~

 **The big edit was next to nothing, like I said up top I'm actually really happy with what I've done so far. This was purely structural and grammatical fixes. I'm sure I missed something though…**


	4. The Meeting

**AN: I don't even know if this chapter will get out before the revision process, but I hope it will. Anyway, I know it's been a long while since an update so I do apologize. I've had family coming over and living with us and I sort of bought Tekken 7 and Injustice 2 and those have taken up a lot of my free time. So sorry.**

 **I don't know if I've outright said this yet, but just to be sure: This story will be fluff. Heavy HEAVY fluff. I'm talking about eskimo kisses and kisses under the full moon and shit. I'm talking about weddings to cry for and kids to die for. Admittedly this story has taken a heavier tone with the way it's going, but that's the fault of the chuunin exams. It's hard to make them funny without skipping them (like I've sort of done) or making this a parody.**

 **Anyway, that's the goal. Whether or not if things like that actually happen is up in the air. It is a fault of my own that I write each chapter in a freeform manner, usually I have a general idea of how I want things to go, but sometimes I surprise myself with what happens. I just hope you readers enjoy what I put out there.**

 **For anyone confused about time (because I know I was) I wanted to clarify how things happen. So the second exam definitely started around or after noon. Anko says that there are exactly 120 hours for the test meaning around midday on the sixth day if we measure the days by the rising and setting of the sun. This is a little detail I might have to go back and fix, but the beginning of this chapter starts where the last finished, so it's the dinner time of the fourth day. All this to say Naruto and Sakura have all of tomorrow to hang out and figure stuff out.**

 **And if anyone was wondering, Karin's dead. No one saved her from the big bad bear so…**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I make profit off of Naruto, please support the official release.**

~AFT~

 **Edit: Diddly squat. Upon reflection, I was already very happy with the story as it was. Really it was all just grammar and flow and even that didn't change much.**

~AFT~

Chapter 3 Summary: The possibility of lesbian sex was introduced. Lol. For real though, a lot reviews were specifically about that. Anyway, the end of Naruto and Sakura's conversation happened. Turns out Orioke no Jutsu allows Naruto to be a REAL girl… period and all. Sakura's body is super badass… and she was released from the infirmary, so she and Naruto went to dinner.

~AFT~

Chapter 4: The Meeting

It only took Naruto and Sakura a few minutes to get to the cafeteria and luckily there weren't many prospective chuunin hanging about. The cafeteria was set up simply in that a short wall had a buffet behind which doubled as the kitchen and the rest of the space was tables that could seat eight. At the moment the sand girl was eating with the brother who liked to wear make-up to the left of the middle of the hall, and team nine were all eating in the same table, but Neji had noticeably separated himself from the rest of his team. The creepy Ame team with the eye wraps and rebreathers were all sitting as close to the buffet side as possible. Finally, the silver haired guy's team was there sitting close to the entrance.

Despite not personally knowing any of the genin in the cafe Sakura was still blushing in embarrassment. She was unsteady on her feet and, despite her newfound strength, was incapable of walking safely on her own, so she had to hold on the Naruto like a crutch. Since she had the height advantage she was directly behind him and was gently pushing down on his shoulder for support. It wasn't a particularly intimate position, but her regular wobbles and shakes made her feel like some sort of street show, which to a certain extent she was. Not a single person in the hall ignored the spectacle that was Sakura trying to walk. Naruto could practically feel Sakura heating up, so in typical Naruto fashion he sought to alleviate her embarrassment.

"Hey! What the _hell_ are you people looking at huh? Why don't ya eat without letting ya eyes wander? Hmph."

Though further embarrassed by his obtuse statement, Sakura couldn't help the smile that graced her delicate features. Also, it worked to an extent since almost everyone embarrassedly turned their attention back to their meals, all except for a single bushy browed boy. Seeing his precious cherry blossom in such a state shocked and disturbed Rock Lee to his very core. His mind raced with questions, but he knew one thing for certain: He had to help her now! Literally springing into action Lee did a massive and acrobatic jump from his table all the way to the team seven duo.

"Oh, my dear Sakura-chan. What terrible fate has befallen you? I have come to…"

Lee trailed off as he stood up from his kneeled position. Sakura was all of a sudden only and inch or so shorter than he was!

"Tch, move it caterpillar brows, me and Sakura-chan are trying to get something to eat."

Lee could only gape in wonder as he watched the suddenly tall girl walk past. It took a moment to collect himself, but he attributed her newfound height a sudden growth spurt that he missed while she was in the Forest of Death. It didn't really matter because Sakura needed help! Another leap brought him back in front of the twosome.

"Oh sweet, sweet Sakura-chan. Let me help you walk. Clearly Naruto-san is not enough for your majestic stature."

Sakura could barely keep the grimace off of her face as she responded. "Uh… no it's ok Lee-san. I'm just fine with Naruto so don't you worry yourself about me, ok?"

Not one to be shot down easily Lee answered quickly, then allow me to get you your dinner or perhaps pull out your chair! I can also-"

Naruto, who was feeling really good since Sakura had chosen him or the spandex clad freak, interrupted.

"Hey, buddy. She said she was fine and I can handle all of that stuff no sweat."

Naruto did the ram seal and three puffs of smoke occurred revealing three perfect replicas of himself.

"Alright, you," he said pointing to the nearest shadow clone, "go pull out Sakura-chan's chair and dispel. You," he pointed to the furthest clone, "go get us some food, ask Sakura what she wants first. And you," there was a certain weight to his words now as he pointed to the last clone, "help me make sure Sakura-chan is steady."

"See Lee-san? I'm just fine with Naruto."

Once again Lee was shot down hard, and this time by both Sakura and Naruto. Realizing he could do nothing outside of forcefully dispelling Naruto's clones a dejected Lee slumped back over to his teammates and ate silently.

Having achieved victory Naruto and his clone, who had each taken one of Sakura's arms, slowly walked over to the pulled out chair at a table to the right of the cafeteria closer to the buffet area. Once she was comfortably situated and the other two clones had dispelled Naruto gently pushed her chair back in. Sitting down across from her Naruto couldn't stop the smile that grew on his his prepubescent face.

"Oh shut up baka… and… thank you. That guy's eyebrows and eyes and just… his everything is so weird."

"Haha, yeah. So," Naruto quickly glanced around conspiratorially and lowered his voice, "how are the ears and tails coming along… and what's it like?"

Sakura squirmed in her seat for a moment while figuring out how to explain her new appendages to a less intelligent boy.

"Well… it's like I've got a small arm just above my butt, but it also can move however I like which is nice… I guess. It's supposed to get super long by tomorrow so I hope to effectively use it as an appendage. The ears are… odd. They're not fully formed, but I can already hear things very well, like, your foot tapping really fast sounds more like loud claps… so uh can you please stop?"

Blushing Naruto did so. "Sorry."

"I guess the only other thing is that it's just weird to _feel_ from my tail and ears and the worst part is that they're all sensitive to the point that squeezing them even a little hurts. Honestly I'm super uncomfortable with my tail stuck up my shirt…"

"Silly Sakura-chan, let it out."

Sakura's jaw practically scraped the table. "W-what? N-no!"

"Why not?"

"Well I don't want anyone else to see!"

It was then that Naruto's final clone, who had created several more, came back with nigh a feast's worth of food. Naruto's wide eyes stared in shock at Sakura who blushed in response.

"What did you ask for Sakura-chan?"

Sakura's answer came out as a meek question. "Well… I… sorta… asked for everything?"

"Wow, that's amazing Sakura-chan." Naruto's eyes had a dreamy, half-lidded look to them that made Sakura squirm in her seat a little bit.

"Uhm, ok Naruto, why don't you just eat your," she took a moment to see what Naruto had in front of him, "Ramen… of course. Ooh look, you got some rice balls and dango too, nice improvement." She said with a roll of her eyes.

"Awww, Sakura-cha~an! Ramen is really good! This might not be as good as Teuchi-ji's ramen, but it's better than the instant stuff I have at home. And hey, I did get other stuff to eat!"

"Barely." Sakura mumbled. "Whatever, let's just eat and go to bed, I'm tired and people are looking at me again…"

Glancing around Naruto realized that to be true, so he "corrected" the situation again.

"Hey! The fuck you guys looking at? She's hungry! Mind your own Kami damned business!"

Sakura was beginning to look like tomato as she wallowed in her mortification, but just like earlier a small part of her was glad Naruto was so willing to defend her. Another part of her wondered when he got so vulgar, but it probably was due to his lacking education. She said nothing though as the cafeteria quieted down and she and Naruto dug into their food.

Sakura had never had the misfortune of witnessing Naruto eat ramen, but not even his wild and disgusting table manners could deter her from her feast. She ate with a certain amount of delicacy and grace which had been pounded into her head by her parents since she was young, but still she ate like a starving person. It was an odd oxymoron to witness as Sakura tried to eat with manners and shovel food down her gullet at the same time. Naruto didn't care since he was preoccupied slurping down ramen, so once again, this time with neither being the wiser, they became a spectacle that garnered the attention, and disgust, of almost everyone in the cafeteria.

Temari and Neji left quickly after the "show" started. The Ame team stuck it out for a little while, but they too were unable to stomach the scene. Kankuro was lost soon after. Kabuto's team began ignoring them quickly, but the sound of Naruto and Sakura consuming food by the pound quickly unnerved them enough to cause them to leave. Tenten and Lee stuck around to what they thought was the end, but seeing Naruto send out a clone to get more food for both himself and Sakura was the final nail in the coffin.

Almost half an hour after Lee and Tenten had left, Naruto realized that there wasn't anymore food!

"Uhhh, Sakura-chan, I think they're out of food."

"What! No!" Sakura wasn't ravenous anymore, but she could eat. A quick glance at the wall the buffet was built into confirmed the unfortunate truth of Naruto's statement. "Damn, at least the anmitsu(1) was good… mmmm. It was so good."

"Yeah… well I think everyone else left and I know that I'm real tired. You ready for bed Sakura-chan?"

Sakura answered with an extremely unladylike and loud belch. There was silence as Sakura began blushing up a storm, again, and Naruto's eyes threatened to pop out of his skull and his jaw tried to sweep the floor. Sakura then buried her face in her hands as Naruto began laughing uproariously.

"Don't laugh Naruto!" came Sakura's muffled, but angry voice. "That was disgusting, I can't believe I did that!"

"Maa, maa, Sakura-chan. It's fine! It was hilarious. Now let's go, I think the workers will clear out the table."

Sakura refused to move so Naruto did the only sensible thing and threw her over his shoulder. Sakura had been too distracted by her wallowing to realize what Naruto was doing until it was too late. She let out an undignified "Eeep" as her stomach hit his shoulder and she found herself facing his backside.

"Naruto what the hell! Put me down!"

Smiling as though nothing was wrong Naruto began walking toward their shared room.

"Well, Sakura-chan, you saw how you were when we were getting here. I think this'll be faster."

"So what?" Sakura struggled a bit, but knew she was too weak to really do anything and gave up. "At least carry me properly."

"Huh? Whaddya mean Sakura-chan?"

Sakura began blushing again. 'What the hell is wrong with me it's like I have way too much blood!' "Well… you know. In your arms… like a… like a princess."

It took Naruto a moment to figure out what she wanted, "Oh! You mean like in the movies! Sure Sakura-chan, I think you're a princess anyway, way better than that Princess Gale chick!" A couple of awkward movements later and a smiling Naruto Uzumaki was holding a red-faced, fuming Sakura Haruno.

Sakura was torn. She wanted to slap the shit out of Naruto for being a rude and uncouth dumbass, but he did call her a princess greater than even the legendary Princess Gale. So she settled for crossing her arms, drawing attention to her much more noticeable bust, and turning her head away from him to ignore him completely.

Naruto might not have been the sharpest tool in the crayon box, but he could recognize annoyance on a person's face, he saw it quite often after all.

"Awww, Sakura-chan! Don't be mad!"

No response.

"Aww Sakura! Ple~ase?"

A quick glance.

"I'll uhh, I'll… I'll get you some more anmitsu tomorrow! Maybe even some syrup covered anko!"

 _That_ certainly interested Sakura enough to look at Naruto. "Hmmm… promise?"

Naruto answered with an overly vigorous and long lasting nod.

Sakura paused for a moment for dramatic effect. She even pursed her lips and tapped them with her finger as if deeply considering his offer. After letting Naruto sweat for a few minutes she answered.

"Ok."

Naruto was thrown by her perky attitude, but brushed it off. 'Man, girls are weirdos. But look at this, I got Sakura-chan in my arms, suck on that Sasuke-teme!'

"Yay, now let's go to the room, I'm beat."

On the way to their rooms Naruto couldn't help, but remark on how difficult it was to carry Sakura.

"Hey Sakura-chan, you're really heavy you know that?"

This time Sakura didn't suppress the urge to clock her teammate on the noggin. He deserved it for being so dumb and rude!

"Baka! Of course I am! Remember? All of my bones and muscles are super dense! I weigh somewhere close to 200 pounds!"

Unfortunately Sakura had forgotten about her new, massive strength and what was going to be a harsh, but light punch knocked Naruto unconscious. Sakura fell to the ground in a heap since her sore muscles were unable move quickly enough so that she could catch herself. After minute of struggling to get to her feet Sakura tried to rouse Naruto from his incapacitated state. Nothing she did worked; she even tried roughly shaking him to no avail.

"Ah dammit."

Resigning herself to her fate Sakura began to slowly walk to her and Naruto's shared room while dragging the blonde idiot behind her, by his left foot. Luckily Naruto had told her where it was, but it still took her almost half an hour to find it. After uncaringly tossing him onto his bed, the sheets weren't done, Sakura fell face first into her bed's pillow and was asleep within seconds.

~AFT~

"MmmwuuuuahhhaaaaHAhmmmmm." A word did not exist that captured the meaning of every part of Sakura's wake up yawn, but it was undoubtedly… unique. Lots of pixie like moans and squeals interspersed with the odd deep yawn.

Despite her wake up sounds, Sakura was very much a morning person. She had to be in order to apply all the makeup she wears _and_ make it on time to team meetings, even if her sensei wasn't there on time. Though it may seem pointless to wake up extremely early to carry out a long beautification process only to go to a meeting that you knew you were three hours early to, Sakura had a purpose. You see Sasuke always went to meetings two hours early in order to get in some light training, as such Sakura had an entire two hours of Sasuke time to herself since Naruto had long figured out he could go to meetings three hours after they were scheduled.

So, as per her usual, Sakura woke up ready to seize the day, only to realize the clock in her shared room read 10:00 a.m. For a moment Sakura's heart stopped, then it leapt into her throat, her stomach even got into the act and dropped down to her feet, and as a final hurrah her eyeballs popped out of their sockets. If a certain blonde had been awake to witness the event he might have died of laughter, thankfully he wasn't.

Sakura was stuck like that for a moment until she remembered that she was in the tower in the center of the Forest of friggin' Death. She almost breathed a sigh of relief, almost. It was several minutes after she slumped into bed that she had collected herself enough to get ready for her last day of peace and quiet before the second test ended. Glancing over at the haphazard form of her teammate, she giggled when she realized he was upside down in his bed with half of his body hanging off of it. Shaking her head at his ridiculousness she slipped into the bathroom to take a shower since she had been too tired to do so the night before. She had even slept in the clothes she had worn after leaving the infirmary!

After undressing Sakura took a moment to appreciate her new body. She had always considered herself to be very pretty, after all she went through constant dieting and beautification processes everyday for the boy who hadn't even looked twice at her, but now she was knockout! Sure she wasn't as voluptuous and sexy as say the crazy exam woman or the sensei of team ten, but she was probably the hottest girl in her generation! Ino had started developing a bit early and certainly had a certain beauty as a platinum blonde, Sakura could now admit that between the two of them Ino had been the more beautiful, but not now! Hinata was too much of a wallflower and even if she had any sort of curves she covered them up with her big jacket, either way Sakura had never really compared herself to her. The girl with the hair buns is the only other one Sakura could think of, her old classmates not even a twinkle in her eye, and even though she was a year older, Sakura didn't think she could hold a candle to her new body. The sand girl was the only other one Sakura could think of that could compare to her, but she wasn't even a Konoha nin so it didn't really matter. Not to mention she was fifteen or something…

After confirming she was the hottest around Sakura couldn't help giggling and doing a little twirl. She was sure that she could have Sasuke wrapped around her pinky if she so pleased, and if she couldn't… well even she would question his sexuality. But all thoughts of Sasuke disappeared when she stood in front of the bathroom mirror and truly took in her lovely features. She didn't look extremely different, structurally her cheekbones were a bit higher, giving her a more regal look, and her face a bit more angular, if someone knew her they would still recognize her without trouble. Her eyes were almost luminescent, 'Actually, I think one of the nurses said they literally are… it's so weird, but I have night vision now.' Opening her mouth revealed her more prominent and sharp canines which would be undoubtedly useful… for eating. 'Hmph, no way am I going to start biting people, at least they don't feel uncomfortable in my mouth.' As she brushed her fingers through her hair she realized how soft and silky it felt. 'Wow, I've been using tons of products for a long time and my hair has never been this silky smooth. I also can't believe it grew back to how I had it.'

Steeling herself Sakura looked slightly upwards to take in the final change to her appearance, and probably the most notable one, her ears. Unlike last night when they had still been able to seamlessly blend in with her hair, they were the same color after all, they were now, by her estimation, fully grown. They stood prominently from her skull being easily five inches from base to tip. Thankfully she figured out she could move them to the point of pressing down on her skull, but now they looked like small horns sticking out of the side of her head. Giving up Sakura hesitantly touched the white fur that covered the inside of her ear, she found that it was very sensitive, but far from pleasurable. If anything, touching that fur was a bit uncomfortable. The outside of her ear on the other hand… this time she couldn't stop the distinctly purr-like noise that escaped her throat. Horrified she stood stock still while looking at the door, she only relaxed when she heard a loud snore that undoubtedly came from her still sleeping teammate. Done with her exploration Sakura entered the shower and allowed the cold water to wash over her and further wake her up.

Bliss was all Sakura knew until the cold water hit her tail. The almost painful feeling caused Sakura to quickly jump out of the shower in fright and she only barely stopped the scream trying to escape from her mouth. 'What the hell?' After recollecting herself Sakura took a moment to examine her tail as she let the water heat up. Like her ears her tail seemed to have grown to its full length over night, she estimated it was about half as long as she was tall. Much like her ears her tail was pink except for the tip which had a shock of white. Touching it revealed it wasn't nearly as sensitive as the inside of her ears, but it felt more like a hairy arm, except for the fact that it was covered in very long and soft hair. It was also noticeably warmer than the rest of her body which was probably why she freaked when the cold water hit it.

"I can't believe I have a tail and ears… I look like a furry's wet dream. What am I going to do…"

Silence reigned as the bathroom began to fill up with steam signifying the water had reached a nice and hot temperature and that Sakura could, hopefully, enter without worrying about her tail. Thankfully, that was the case and Sakura could finally have the relaxing shower she had wanted. Several minutes passed without interruption as Sakura let her mind wander to the… unique circumstances she now found herself in.

'This is could only go a couple of ways once my changes become common knowledge. Some people will outright resent and fear me for sure since this was caused by the fox's chakra. That's going to suck. I-I-I hope my parents aren't like that. Hopefully there are a couple of people who find it cute and adorable, I wouldn't mind if that's what my parents think. Ugh… there's going to be perverts… blech. Probably among the shinobi forces there will be those who are jealous of my new power, with how strong I am now I can't help but feel like I cheated a little. Finally, hopefully, there will be those who don't treat me any differently, I already know that Naruto falls into that category.'

'Naruto…' a soft smile find its way onto Sakura's face. 'What an idiot.' "And to think that this is all your fault… I can't be too mad though, he's lived with a heavy stigma his entire life and if he can then I definitely can. Huuuu. At least I know I'll keep getting prettier as I grow up."

With that final, positive thought Sakura exited the shower and got dried. She was a bit upset she would have to wear the same thing she slept in, but that's all she had at the moment. Once dressed, a positively glowing Sakura exited the bathroom, only to be met with an sad scene. Naruto had straightened out on his bed, but he now seemed to be shivering, the only issue being that he was covered with his blankets and the plain, wooden room was surprisingly warm. Upon closer inspection Sakura found that Naruto's face was scrunched up in a grimace, he was clearly having a bad dream. Worried for her teammate Sakura touched his shoulder to wake him up instead she felt a distinct sucking sensation throughout her entire body and the world around her went dark.

~AFT~

The last thing Sakura expected when she tried to wake up Naruto was to end up in a sewer and it wasn't a traditional sewer either. It had no rounded walls and looked more like a hallway the way door-like entrances lined the walls. The reason Sakura was so sure that it was a sewer was the fact that she currently stood and several inches of water and the insane array of crisscrossing and overlapping pipes that ran above her head. The pipes reminded Sakura of veins.

"Great," she said as she began to walk, drawn forward by some unknown force. "I bet this is something stupid, like I'm stuck in Naruto's head or something."

Sakura screamed in frustration.

"I take it back, the baka is a huge pain in the ass. Hmph, whatever… oooo what's this?"

Sakura's walking had led her to a door that was very… glowy. Red light emanated from the entrance in an ominous manner.

"Oh sure, let me walk in there, it's obviously the smartest thing to do… friggin bullshit. If I wasn't so sure Naruto would be in here, because he's stupid, I would've been out of here."

Resigned to her fate Sakura entered the smaller hallway. At the end she was surprised to find that the hallway seemed to open up to a huge room. Everything was still made of concrete, but on the far side there were jail cell bars that spanned the entire length of the wall. And it was there that stood Naruto, rather, he stood right in front of the bars and he seemed to be talking to something.

Now, Sakura didn't get top kunoichi upon graduating from the Academy for nothing. She was smart, damn smart. She wasn't a genius like Shikamaru, but who was? It was very easy for her to figure out where they were and who Naruto could possibly be talking to.

The horror was clear in her voice, "The Kyuubi."

The horror was evident throughout her entire body. Once the words were out of her mouth she defensively put up her arms to protect her from… whatever. She couldn't stop her limbs from shaking and her eyes from growing wide and examining each part of the cell to catch even the smallest glint of the Kyuubi. She was damn near ready to piss herself.

Sakura's voice alerted Naruto to her presence which caused his slightly tense posture to relax. When he had suddenly awoken in some sewers he didn't know what to expect. It wasn't until he found the extremely obvious jail cell that he put two and two together, he had found the resting place of the Kyuubi no Kitsune. Righteous anger coursed through him as he threw himself towards the bars and screamed, demanding the Kyuubi tell him everything about what had happened to his precious Sakura-chan. Alas, not even the smallest of movement could be discerned from within the cell. Perhaps the Kyuubi was asleep? Now that Sakura was here she could help Naruto so that they could find out everything they could, it was her life after all.

Unconcerned by her terror Naruto called out to her, "Hey Sakura-chan! Come over here!"

Bewilderment shot through Sakura's terror, how could Naruto be so calm? "Naruto! What the hell? That's the Kyuubi's cage! Get away from there!"

Chuckling at her overreaction Naruto answered calmly, "You don't have to worry about him Sakura-chan. Actually, I think he's asleep because I've been here for a while and he hasn't done a-"

Naruto was interrupted by a roar so loud it shook the ground Sakura and Naruto were standing on.

" **Shut up you stupid ningen, I didn't respond to you because I was waiting for the other fleshbag. Hmph… now that she's here there is much we have to discuss.** "

It took Naruto a moment to realize the king of all beasts, the most terrifying monster of them all, wasn't trying to kill him, or Sakura for that matter. At the very least the bars with the seal on them should keep the Kyuubi from killing him… right? Filled with fleeting courage Naruto responded to the beast.

"Yeah Fuzzbutt! We _do_ have much to discuss! What the hell happened to Sakura?"

Kurama didn't answer for a moment, then Naruto had to dodge a giant claw as it tried to skewer him.

" **You better not try that again fleshbag. I am a being more powerful than you can comprehend and have lived for more than a millennia, you will do well to remember that.** "

Kurama then drew his head up to the gate showing that his eyeball alone was a large as Naruto was tall.

" **Besides, what did you think I brought** _ **her**_ **here for?** "

Naruto quickly looked for pink hair, in his excitement to get answers and hold something over a being as powerful as the Kyuubi he had forgotten about Sakura.

"Y-yeah, I was wondering about that too, Naruto looked like he was having a nightmare so I went to wake him up and-"

" **Things I already know, it was simple to make his body do that when he was here. After all, a small part of me is outside of this infernal seal.** "

The Kyuubi's massive eye turned to look towards Sakura, boring into her very soul. She could practically hear the grin the Kyuubi wore when he finished his sentence. Something that had vaguely nagged her in the back of her mind was the possibility of her new chakra being an extension of the Kyuubi. Of course the nurses had said her chakra was something new, which was potentially even more worrisome.

Kurama snorted, " **Worry not human, I have little control over the chakra within you, in words you simple monkeys might understand, your chakra feels like a tiny beacon to me at the moment. Unfortunately if things go as I expect them to I will no longer feel even that which was why I tried, successfully, to bring you here.** "

Upon hearing those words Sakura visibly relaxed. She had walked up to Naruto while the Kyuubi was speaking, in case he was some sort of exit key, and chose to lean on him for support. If it weren't for him she would have fallen over.

" **Hmph, such weak creatures you fleshbags are… anyway, you, pink fleshbag, are here for a history lesson. One that my idiotic jailor could use.** "

"Wait what?" asked a very confused Sakura. "Why a history lesson, shouldn't you… uh I mean, would you please tell me what else could happen to me? Or why what happened happened at all?"

Feeling left out, but knowing to keep his mouth shut, Naruto just listened to the greatest bijuu and his crush talk.

" **So you ningen can be respectful, good. What happened to you pinky is very simple, in order to house the chakra within you your body adapted. If I remember correctly the chakra you fleshbags use is made up of physical and mental energies, and if the dreams this one has,** " a giant claw pointed towards Naruto, " **are anything to go by you are already quite smart, for an insignificant fleshbag. So your physique had to improve. As for your new looks… I take the form of a fox, and you female fleshbags have several ingrained instincts that I'm sure influenced your change.** "

Sakura was struck by the Kyuubi's forwardness, "Oh… thank you I guess."

Too bored to stay quiet Naruto interjected, "Yeah that's nice, Sakura was already the prettiest girl in the world, what's your point? Get on with the history lesson."

Blood rushed to Sakura's face as she contemplated smacking or hugging Naruto. 'Ugh, he can be so adorably stupid sometimes…' She settled for hiding her face, and smile, with her hands.

Even Kurama chuckled, the relationships of meat bags had always amused him.

" **Alright then ningen, let's get of the important part. I'm sure you've heard of the Sage of Six Paths, correct?** "

Sakura nodded, of course she did! Naruto shook his head no, sounded boring… like history. Sakura had felt the head shake and sighed as she quickly explained, didn't want the only person… being who knew anything about her condition get mad at them for Naruto's stupidity.

"The Sage of Six Paths was the progenitor of chakra and ninshu, many great clans trace their lineage directly to him. I think the history books say he saved the world something, but there's not much on that."

"Ah! Thanks a lot Sakura-chan!"

" **That is correct ningen, at least for what little you fleshbags know. Hagoromo Otsutsuki was the son of Kaguya Otsutsuki true first wielder of chakra. She was hailed as the Rabbit Goddess but lost her faith in humanity and began to destroy them and use turn them into mindless drones for her army. Hagoromo and his twin brother Homura stopped her, but she had merged with the God Tree, from which she had gained the power of chakra, and become a raging beast. The Juubi. They sealed her and made the moon and took her chakra and separated it, yadda yadda. Basically that chakra became us bijuu. The point is that even though the blonde fleshbag already split my chakra in half, I know I am the same as I was. The chakra within you little pink ningen is not the same at all, it's fundamentally different than mine, Naruto's or even Hagoromo's chakra. It new and different and I think a completely new bijuu will be born from you… or you will become one. I-** "

Sakura couldn't control herself, she screamed. After a moment she was able to formulate words, "What. The. Hell? Do you mean to tell me I will be a bijuu one day?"

The Kyuubi blinked, " **Perhaps. I am not sure, the closest thing I can compare this to is what the Gold and Silver Brothers did when I ate them. But their chakra didn't change like your's did, they simply became similar to other jailers, though they did gain whisker marks much like the idiot here. I do not believe you will change physically anymore, you are also quite smart so you won't suddenly be changing personalities. I believe your chakra will gain a sort of sentience and become something between human and bijuu much like how you are now. Or nothing will happen. Again, this has never happened before.** "

This time Sakura did fall to the floor, luckily Naruto noticed, caught her, and gently sat her down. He sat down with her so that she could lean on him for support, again.

"So nothing might happen?"

" **I said that didn't I?** "

"Thank Kami… but… would you help me if something else happens?" Sakura's eyes were desperate and pleading, she was at the end of her rope and only Naruto's presence was keeping her from falling.

The Kyuubi was silent for a few moments as if considering her request, then it laughed, loudly.

" **Silly meatbag, why would I do that? If anything I will enjoy seeing you torn apart from the inside out. Now begone, you have been in my presence for far too long.** "

With a dismissive gesture from his oddly human like paw Naruto and Sakura were sent careening back to reality. Naruto darted up from his bed and Sakura fell onto the hard wooden floor. Both were panting as if they had just gone through their team exercises with Kakashi. They even wore the same scared and confused look until they realized they were back in their shared room.

A quick look at the clock revealed that it was only 12 o'clock making Sakura realize time passed differently… wherever that had been. She then looked up to find Naruto's eyes glued to hers in tense understanding. They spoke simultaneously.

"What do we do now?"

~AFT~

 **AN: Did I say this was going to be a fluff story? I might've been lying to myself. Don't get me wrong I want it to be a fluff story, but cool and interesting ideas (to me) pop into my head as I write that end up in the chapter completely derailing my original plans for a chapter. This chapter's original title was "Fun with Tails" and it was supposed to be a single cute and vaguely sexual scene of Naruto petting Sakura's tail and ears and wrestling and literally rolling around on one of their beds, or both IDK. Instead we talked to Kurama, wtf. Though that might be the next chapter; a sort of filler until the prelims.**

 **I guess the big and obvious thing is the whole deal with Sakura. This came to me, as I explained in the chapter, when the wiki (Narutopedia) I was reading talked about how separated parts of a bijuu can become individual personalities as with what happened to the ten tails and all the bijuu we know. It's up in the air, I had several ideas mapped out with how I want the story to go without ever touching the idea that Sakura's chakra may become sentient. On the other hand it could be cool and/or hilarious to see a bijuu develop and essentially be born within Sakura. That route definitely has the bijuu being feminine, fox-like potentially anthro to reflect her odd bijuu/human hybrid nature, and she would definitely fulfill the role Sakura's Inner monologue did with her personality developing as time goes on.**

 **I might even make a pole as the choice will impact the story in a large way and I don't have a strong opinion on it. Though be warned, I might end up convincing myself of one way over the other in which case I'll do what feels right.**

 **Last thing is the AN chapter that will be next, please read it as it contains information relevant to those of you who love my stories and like quick updates. Trust me, I know this chapter is rough, but again, the note. Besides that…**

 **Thanks**


	5. Checkup

**AN: Hiatus is over! Sorry I took so long. It was a disastrous combination of needing a vacation from my vacation, League of Legends, and reading fanfiction. On that note you guys should definitely check out the Harry Potter story called Core Threads by theaceoffire. It's very solid and despite the heavy start, it can be very funny. I know I adore it because it's so starkly different from the typical stories. On one hand, I hate it when stories became extremely AU and Harry starts flinging Kamehameha waves and wields zanpakuto and saves Narnia from Dr. Doofenshmirtz. Blergh. On the other hand, it's tons of fun to see ideas that are either in the universe or make a lot of sense in the universe used and explored in interesting and fun ways which Core Threads does.**

 **Which is the biggest reason that I'm throwing myself back into my stories with renewed fervor. Rest assured for any of you worriers, I will be returning to my update schedule which will be:**

 **Goku the Gamer- weekly  
A Fox's Touch- bi-weekly, possibly becoming weekly since I have no real world responsibilities at the moment  
King of the Pit- bi-weekly**

 **Oh, and I changed my mind, Naruto saved Karin after killing the snake.**

 **With that out of the way… on with the story**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I make a profit off of Naruto, please support the official release.**

~AFT~

Chapter 4 Summary: Naruto and Sakura had a bountiful dinner before finally heading to bed. The next morning Sakura showered and discovered Naruto to be distressed while still asleep. Trying to rouse him sucked her into his… mind (still not sure about that, to be honest) and encountered the Kyuubi no Kitsune. The greatest of all bijuu gave an interesting history lesson and now Sakura might become a bijuu… oh no.

~AFT~

Chapter 5: Checkup

It took the genin almost half an hour of quiet contemplation and lazing about on their beds, for Sakura to finally decide how to move forward.

"Naruto? Do you know where the Hokage is right now?"

Naruto sat up as to better converse with the most beautiful girl in the world.

"Uhm… no. But… maybe one of the nurses know where he is? Or the proctors?"

Still sprawled out on her bed, staring at the ceiling, Sakura blinked.

"Maybe… let's go eat first, I'm starving."

~AFT~

Lunch was a simple ordeal since no one was around to witness the two bottomless holes that claimed to be human empty out the buffet. Sakura couldn't have been happier since there was no way to hide her new accessories and she didn't feel ready to deal with the public opinion just yet. Now they were at the infirmary and were pleasantly surprised to find Nurse Kitoaji on duty.

"Nurse Kitoaji!"

"Ah, Haruno-san, how are you doing? I see your new appendages have grown in completely. Are you here for your checkup?"

The question made Sakura pause.

"What check-up?"

Mari's face showed mild surprise, but it passed quickly. "Nurse Fukuyama must have forgotten to mention it to you. We wanted to be sure everything was ok once your appendages fully grew in. Inuzuka-san was even going to come in again and Hokage-sama was going to have a little meeting with us to go over everything we've found. If you are willing to wait about an hour at most everyone should be here."

"Uhh… I guess that's ok. Naruto and I were looking for the Hokage anyway, so we can wait."

"Oh? What for?"

"I think it'll be better to wait until after the checkup so that everyone can hear at the same time."

"I understand, please return here within the hour ok honey?"

"Alright."

Once they were a bit ways from the infirmary Naruto and Sakura had the unfortunate luck of running into team ten. Sakura would have seen them coming from a mile away if it weren't for the fact that they had run into each other at the turn of a hallway. Team ten was a mess, Ino's hair wasn't put together, it wasn't even in a ponytail, Shikamaru looked pretty fine except for his missing shirt which revealed multiple small cuts and abrasions, and Choji looked… desperate. There was a certain hunger and madness that put Naruto and Sakura on edge. Ultimately, each member looked ready to pass out, that all changed the second Ino opened her mouth.

"Sakura?" she yelled.

The girl in question winced at the volume Ino reached, she had been lucky until just now that no one had yelled or even raised their voice around her. Clearly, her heightened sense of hearing was going to take some getting used to.

"Uhh… hey, Ino…"

Ino recoiled in shock, the person before her certainly looked like her rival, but she looked… wrong. Too pretty was probably the description she was looking for. Then Ino's eyes latched onto her old friend's newest features. Her eyes practically burst out of their sockets and the sound that escaped her throat was barely comprehensible.

"EEGGAAWHAAA?"

This time Sakura had to press her ears flat to her skull in an effort to muffle Ino's high pitched shriek. Ino then fainted.

Naruto who had witnessed the small event with little care couldn't comprehend his fellow blonde's overreaction to seeing Sakura. Glancing at the pinkette reminded him that she had undergone some pretty massive changes recently, not that he could be blamed for forgetting. He simply thought she looked even prettier than before and the ears and tail were awesome.

"I think you guys are going to have to help your Ino to the infirmary."

Naruto's insight was dutifully ignored by the other males in the vicinity. Choji was lost, the book lover he knew passingly knew in the academy was suddenly taller than him, even if it was only by a small amount, it had only been a couple of days since the test started! And then she's walking around with a tail and fox ears? What the heck is that? But he did not voice any of that, he simply stared in slack jawed confusion.

Shikamaru also ignored Naruto, but that's because his mind was racing a mile a minute. 'Why? A growth spurt is certainly the biggest reason behind her height, after all, it's been several months since any of us have seen each other. No wait, we saw each other a couple of days ago. Why the hell is she… four inches taller? What's with the tail and ears? That doesn't just appear. Does it have to do with her proximity to Naruto? No, otherwise the kids who were stuck sitting near him all those years would also look different. Did… did the Kyuubi do something? Sakura doesn't seem mad at Naruto... if anything she seems slightly dependent on him now since after Ino's outburst she took a step towards to him. Did Naruto do something? No, I'm sure their sensei or some other jounin would have noticed if he was controlling her in some way. I… I don't what's happening.'

"Troublesome."

Silence reigned for a few moments as each group eyed each other, team ten was confused and team seven was worried. They both knew that how their old classmates responded to Sakura's new look could affect how things went for them in the future. The silence was broken by a dazed Ino as she tried to get back to her feet. Once standing she leaned on Choji for support before trapping Sakura with her questioning gaze.

"Why do you look like that? Are you some sort of demon?"

Sakura nearly tripped on nothing while standing still when she heard that question.

"Nonononononononono! No Ino, I'm not a demon, I haven't changed… much since the test started. Uhm… why… why don't I tell you guys later? Naruto and I were heading back to our-"

"Uhuh, hell no. You're not getting out of this. Why the hell do you have ears on top of your head and a tail coming out of your butt?"

"Uh… Uhm… It… It was Naruto's fault!"

Unable to take the pressure Sakura tried to hide behind Naruto and her closed eyes, it didn't really work. But her redirection worked and now Naruto had to face the full force of Ino's heated glare. He didn't know what to say until Ino had walked up to him and forcefully grabbed his jacket's collar before screaming in his face.

"WHAT. THE. FUCK. DID. YOU. DO!"

Ino's anger warmed Sakura's heart, now she knew Ino wouldn't cast her aside for the way she looks. Unfortunately, she now had to come to the lovable blonde idiot's defense. Standing up to her full height of 5'2" Sakura reached over Naruto and gently placed her hands on Ino's shoulders.

"Ino. Stop. , ."

Once again looking at her old friend Ino was struck by the fact that she now had to look up, only to be greeted by green, slitted eyes. Shocked and a bit scared Ino recoiled away from the duo before catching her breath and asking her question once again.

"Just… what's going on?"

Sharing a look, Naruto and Sakura nodded to each other before walking past a bewildered team ten.

Glancing back at the immobile genin Naruto beckoned them without stopping. "Well? C'mon, don't you wanna know what's going on?"

Roused from their stupor team ten exchanged looks to determine whether or not they were actually going to follow the Dead Last and very different pink haired girl.

"Well… yeah, I think we do. Let's go guys." Ino said in an uncertain voice. She then led the way toward the answers she needed.

~AFT~

It took the group of five only six minutes to get to team seven's room. Once there Naruto and Sakura sat on Sakura's bed, because it was cleaner, and directed team ten to sit on Naruto's. No one spoke for almost an entire minute until Sakura broke the silence with a long and shaky breath.

"Okay… do you guys remember that Sound team?"

"...yeah…" Ino answered.

"How about the traitor sannin Orochimaru?"

Taken aback by the odd question Ino answered, "Yeah, but what does he-"

Sakura cut her off. "Well, it turns out he was the creepy Grass genin at the beginning of the second test. He attacked us later that day. He did some sort of wind jutsu that threw Naruto far, far away from me and Sasuke and then knocked me out. When I came to Sasuke was writhing on the ground in pain, but also clearly unconscious since he didn't try to stand up or move around. I was able to get him to a clearing where we took shelter under a tree. Night was falling by then so I had to stay on guard duty without anyone to switch with me. I set up some traps, but… I knew they weren't going to do much against an entire team."

Sakura stopped talking, she suddenly intimately knew how Naruto felt just a few days ago when he was telling her about his past. It was scary and it hurt to remember what had happened, she was brought out her dark musings by Naruto's one armed hug. Looking at his smiling face filled Sakura with a courage she thought she didn't have, she didn't have to think about snuggling into his arm and body, it was practically instinctual.

Team ten, on the other hand, was greatly disturbed by the act and looked on with wide eyes.

'Did… did Sakura finally say yes to that knucklehead? What about Sasuke-kun… whatever, less competition for me.'

'Whatever happened… it was huge. To completely shift their social dynamic to one that was completely opposite of what it was? Or… rather, to make Sakura change from spurning Naruto to finding strength and comfort in him… ugh. Troublesome.'

'So the dead-last got a girlfriend… weird. I hope she hurries up with the story, I'm hungry again.'

Sakura continued her story in a strong and assured voice, she also looked extremely comfortable pressed up against Naruto.

"The sound team that I mentioned earlier came, apparently they had been watching me and waiting until I was at my weakest. It was probably five in the morning when the one with spiky black hair came at me. He dodged my traps pretty well, he was clearly the superior shinobi, but what they said… They were apparently there to kill Sasuke-kun. I had to hold on, I hoped against all hope someone would come and save us, but no one did. I was going to die, but just as that guy was going to finish me off, Naruto arrived."

She sent a meaningful glance up to the whiskered teen.

"Oh… Uhm." Naruto's face grew increasingly red which was made worse by the fact he had finally calmed down from Sakura snuggling into him moments before. "Well, I was desperately looking for my team when I heard a fight in the distance. When I found Sakura looking the way she was… I-I lost it."

Hearing Naruto getting choked up motivated Sakura to snuggle even closer to him. At this point, she was practically on his lap leaving team ten to look on completely dumbfounded. They looked like a couple!

"I don't remember every detail, but I know I roared really, really loud and-"

"Wait! That was you?" interrupted Ino. "We were woken up by a roar, it was clearly a good distance away but it sure as hell got us moving. I think the whole forest heard you."

"Really? That's… cool, I guess. Anyway, I killed all of them and then-"

"Woah Woah Woah Woah Woah. You expect me to believe that you, the dead-last, not only beat but killed the Oto team?"

"Well-"

"Let me Naruto." Sakura sent a heated glare towards Ino. "If you must know he did kill those genin, Sasuke didn't wake up, it was Naruto who saved me. It actually has everything to do with this guy." Sakura waved her tail which had been wrapped around Naruto's midsection. "The Kyuubi is sealed within Naruto and he can use its power. I was dying, the only other thing I remember from that morning is an agonizing amount of pain. It was like I was being burned alive. Turns out that Naruto flooded my body with the Kyuubi's chakra, it's the only reason I'm alive. It's also the reason I have these extra bits," once again she waved her tail and this time she also wiggled her ears, "but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I'm ALIVE."

Shikamaru took the information in stride, while it was odd that acidic chakra could heal someone, what had happened was a very Naruto situation. It was also nice to have confirmation of his theory that Naruto was a Jinchuuriki.

Ino, on the other hand, was floored. Not only did she learn that the Yondaime did not kill the great demon, but that she had been in close proximity to the container for most of her youth. It now made a whole lot of sense why her father told her to stay away from him. Then there was the fact that he had saved Sakura's life, she was certainly grateful that he did, but Ino was scared what others would think of her rival's new appearance.

Choji was just intrigued by the new information. Now he knew why his dad hated Naruto so much and told him to stay away from the prankster. He didn't really care all too much though, he was hungry as fuck.

Once Sakura felt she had given her old classmates the time needed to process the information she had just given she continued.

"It's certainly not bad at all," She wiggled out of her warm comfort zone and stood up, "I mean just look at me."

And look they did. Well, Ino looked. Choji was too hungry to be controlled by his hormones at the moment, and Shikamaru had too much control over himself to ogle the girl like a piece of meat. But they could all appreciate the fact that Sakura was now quite tall, had grown in the chest department and seemed to be very toned as opposed to her previously skinny body.

"I'm strong, really strong." To emphasize her point she did several one armed, vertical push-ups. "Huh, I'm pretty coordinated. My hair feels like silk as does my tail and ears. I also have a ton of chakra now which comes with the small downside of needing to build my control up again. In the words of one of the Nurses who attended to me, 'She's going to become a super kunoichi.' Pretty sweet huh? Apparently, I'm going to become prettier and prettier as time goes on, something about my biology wanting to be a perfect specimen or something."

Ino was seething in frustration, on one hand, it was nice to see Sakura grow in the way she did, on the other it was stupidly unfair that she had all of these benefits! A small, evil part of Ino's brain called for Sakura's blood, but she knew it was unreasonable to hate her rival for literally coming out stronger from something that didn't kill her. 'This just means that I'll have to work harder to be the better shinobi! When this test is done I'll ask daddy to train me more after team meetings, Kami knows we don't do anything as is.'

Looking at the time Sakura realized she has to get moving. "Sorry guys, but Naruto and I have to go to the infirmary, actually you guys should too since you haven't yet." With that, she grabbed a hold of Naruto's hand and practically dragged the willing boy to their destination.

~AFT~

"Nurse Kitoaji! We're here!" announced an oddly upbeat Sakura. 'They might not have accepted me with open arms, but under the circumstances, I think Ino and the rest of her team took everything pretty well.'

"Ah, Sakura-san… and Naruto-san. Perfect timing. Hana-san just arrived, come with me to this side office. We want to keep this entire situation secretive for a bit longer." said Mari as she beckoned the duo towards a door.

Once inside Sakura saw the Inuzuka from yesterday, Nurse Fukuyama, and the Hokage. The wall opposite to the entrance was one big mirror which seemed odd to her, but she brushed it off. On the other side of the mirror where the rest of the doctors and nurses who were staffing the infirmary for the test. The Hokage and Nurses Fukuyama and Kitoaji didn't want to overwhelm Sakura with a mob of medical professionals curious about her situation, so they settled with letting them observe the situation.

"Good to see you in good health Sakura," said Hiruzen.

Sakura bowed, "You too Hokage-sama."

"Wassup Jiji?"

"Haha, it's good to see you too Naruto. I'm sure you remember Hana Inuzuka from the day before she's here to once again check out any animalistic qualities you may have aren't going to be an issue. Actually, after the test is over you'll be going to her every weekend for a checkup. But I speak too much, please, Nurse Fukuyama, so what you must."

"Thank you Hokage-sama." Momoko turned to Sakura. "Please lay down on the examination table, you do not have to get undressed. We will simply be doing diagnostic jutsu, this will be more of meeting than a checkup."

"Oh, ok." Sakura then laid down on the slightly cold table.

The next few minutes were filled with Momoko, Mari, and Hana casting several jutsu. Once done they motioned for Hiruzen and Naruto to join them around the table. Momoko spoke first.

"So I dealt with internal processes such as breathing, blood pressure, heart rate, white blood cell count, etc. As it stands you are extremely healthy Sakura-san, everything is running at peak efficiency. We will also take some blood samples, but that can wait until before you leave. Your chakra network has acclimated to your new chakra just fine, your flow is actually better than most Jounin."

Nodding her head in acceptance Sakura then turned to look at Nurse Kitoaji who answered her unasked question.

"I examined your body in the physical sense, I tried to get a specific number for how dense your bones and muscles are and so on. As far as bone density goes yours are extremely dense Sakura-san to the point that I have to wonder whether or not the material is still bone. In comparison, your bones are about five times denser than a seasoned Jounin's. Your muscles are in a similar situation since they are about three times denser. Basically, you will be able to withstand blows and lift weights your peers can only dream of."

"Whoa, that's cool Sakura-chan!"

Smiling at her admirer's words Sakura turned to look at Hana.

"As far as your ears and tail go you're perfectly fine Haruno-san. The muscle and bone density increases apply to your tails and the extra ear canals created by your new ears aren't affecting your brain in the least. It's actually why the ears seem so large. With training, I can see you utilizing your tail almost as efficiently as you would your arms or legs. Your eyes are absolutely marvelous. Your scent glands aren't affecting you negatively, but I'll talk to you more about them at your checkup next week."

Nodding in thanks, Sakura realized there wasn't much more to be said until Nurse Fukuyama spoke up.

"In case you were wondering, at the moment you are sixty-two inches meaning you grew three and a half inches during your… change. At the moment you weigh 193 pounds and that shouldn't change much throughout your life even as you grow. That said we project your height to be about five foot ten by the time you finish growing."

"Wow… that's something else."

Mari answered, "Indeed now come take a seat at this table we have some more things to discuss."

The Hokage was already seated at the round table which comfortably held six chairs. Once everyone was seated, with Naruto and Sakura edging closer together, Hiruzen began speaking.

"The important change, the one that we think started all of this, is, of course, your chakra Haruno-san. As such-"

Surprising them all Sakura interrupted the Hokage. "If I may Hokage-sama, Naruto and I have something very important to tell you." She squeezed said boy's hand for reassurance. "This morning at ten o'clock I saw Naruto struggling a bit in his bed. I thought he was having a nightmare so I went to wake him up, but when I touched his shoulder I suddenly found myself in a sewer."

The statement got many raised eyebrows from those around the table and the doctors that were observing.

"I didn't know where I was or how I got there so I decided to simply go forward and see if I could find an exit. Eventually, I came across a hallway that emanated a red glow and I felt compelled to enter it. I found Naruto, but Naruto wasn't quite alone."

A few gasps.

"Exactly, I'd found the cage of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox. Naruto was trying to wake him up? Apparently, the Kyuubi wasn't responding to him, but when I got there he spoke. He revealed that he had brought me here using what little and waning influence he had on the chakra within me. He then gave us a history lesson-"

"Excuse me Haruno-san, but you are saying that the most powerful of bijuu brought you to him to give you a history lesson?"

Sakura chuckled at the Hokage's words. "I couldn't believe it either, but that's what he did. He actually told us in depth about the Rikudou Sennin and the creation of chakra and the bijuu. It was very interesting and I'd be willing to tell you all about it Hokage-sama, but it's what we talked about afterward that was important. You see the nine bijuu we know were created from the Juubi that the Sage fought millennia ago. When demon chakra is split new entities are formed. Thus the Kyuubi thought it prudent to inform me of this since I… might become a bijuu? Or maybe my chakra will become an entity like a bijuu? The Kyuubi said he'd never seen something like my chakra before so he's only guessing as to what could happen."

Shocked silence was all there was for several minutes as the adults at the tried to process what they had just learned. Naruto was simply content to hold Sakura's had since she hadn't let go and there was no way he was going to. Hiruzen was the one who finally broke it the silence.

"That's… amazing Sakura-san, but I am concerned over the fact that the Kyuubi has influence over your chakra…" He gave the girl a meaningful look.

"Oh! No no no no no! He had influence over it and even then it was very little. I wouldn't be surprised if he could no longer sense me by now."

"Thank Kami, you've done an old man's heart a lot of good Sakura-san. I think it'll be prudent to take a sample of your chakra to examine along with blood and bone. When it comes to your chakra becoming a second entity or bijuu or whatever… After the exams are complete come to my office, I want you to speak to someone who might be able to help to figure all of this out. Hopefully, nothing comes of this change."

"Of course Hokage-sama, but uh…" Sakura's cheeks gained a light dusting of pink, "can Naruto come with me?"

The Hokage almost chuckled, but he'd knew it'd simply embarrass the poor girl, "Of course Sakura-san, of course. Moving on, it's important you are able to control your new power, as such I have found some ninja willing to train you if necessary. It'd be up to you to contact them so I will give you a list before you go."

Hana took that time to speak up. "I am actually one of those people Haruno-san. Foxes are canines, which means some of the Inuzuka clan techniques might be beneficial to you. I've already confirmed it with my mother, the clan head, so we could train after your checkups if you so wish."

One could almost see the stars in Sakura's eyes. 'I'd been hoping to do some more training due to my changes so this is amazing! Hopefully, there will be someone who is good at chakra control…' "Thank you so much Inuzuka-san! I will work hard!"

Hana smiled at the girl's enthusiasm, then the Hokage began speaking, again. "Speaking of training, I'd like you to mold your chakra for us. We understand if it takes a while."

"Oh… ok. Let's see."

Crossing her legs on her chair to enter a meditative position Sakura held her hands together and began meditating. For several minutes Sakura called on her chakra, eventually, she brought it to the surface and concentrated as much as she could into her hands. The sound of several gasps broke her concentration and the hold she had on her chakra. Opening her eyes Sakura was greeted with several shocked faces.

"As someone who has felt the chakra of several different jinchuuriki and bijuu, I can confidently say your chakra feels like a… nicer version of demon chakra. It's oppressive, but not extremely so, also, the chakra paper we had on hand burned up when Naruto tried to touch your hands with it. Most notably, I assume you were concentrating your chakra into your hands because we actually saw it. This is important for two reasons: being visible means you have a large quantity of chakra and it affirms your chakra is no longer simply human. We knew these things for the most part, but this display obviously confirms it. So, how did it feel for you."

"Well, molding my chakra was very difficult, it was like trying to make a sandcastle with very wet sand. It didn't sting or burn me at all, but it… waved? Had the distinct feeling that some...thing waved at me from my chakra. It was… happy?"

"Most curious. It seems this entity has formed rather quickly, all the more reason for our meeting the day after tomorrow. Now, I think everything has been said, I would suggest you mold your chakra as much as you can today and tomorrow to build up your control. If no one has anything to add I think you kids can leave."

Mari spoke up. "Actually, Hokage-sama. There is one topic we forgot in the excitement. Breaking the news. If the time it took for Sakura-san here to mold her chakra is anything to go by I think it will be a while until she can successfully hold a henge for an extended period of time. Her ears and tail have to be explained somehow especially to her family and peers. There's also the possibility that we will have to make a public announced so that civilians don't start worrying that there is a hanyou walking around."

"Hmmm, good point Mari, well… we won't worry about the exam. Only ninjas are competing and they will have to deal with her new appearance whether they like it or not. I will make an announcement at the end of the test to them, but I will also make an announcement in public from the Hokage Tower before our meeting. In between those announcements, I will move Sakura secretly to her home and personally break the news to her parents. You will be there Naruto. Is this agreeable?"

Nodding her head in affirmation Sakura answered, "Yes sir, Hokage-sama. Thank you."

"Yeah Jiji! I'd love to meet Sakura's parents!"

The old man chuckled, "That's great Naruto. Though I'm not quite sure what to do in the situation that your parents do not react positively to your changes. Would you like to be set up in your own apartment?"

Sakura's eyes widened at his words. After the confrontation with team ten, she had put out her mind the possibility of her parents rejecting her. Being reminded hurt… badly. "I don't know Hokage-sa-"

"She could live with me! I could… I could set up a futon. We'd be fine." Naruto looked at Sakura, he could see the tears welling up in her eyes and hoped his smile would banish them. He hated seeing Sakura cry.

"I'm not sure Naruto. I don't think it'd be-"

"Yes. I'd… I'd like to live with Naruto if my parents kick me out."

The Hokage narrowed his eyes at the two teens which made them fidget nervously. 'If it was any other person on the planet I'd have no problem letting them live with Naruto, but this is the one girl he adores. Sure they're adults but… most wait until they're a couple of years older before becoming intimate. Bah! Who am I kidding? Hana told me about the probability of Sakura going into heat, they'd be screwing before long anyway. She also told me about Naruto's henge…' At that thought, the Hokage gained quite the perverted grin confusing everyone in the room.

"Ahem, I think that will be just fine. Dinner approaches and I'm getting hungry. Scamper along you two." With one final kind and elderly smile, Hiruzen finished the meeting.

~AFT~

When Naruto and Sakura were leaving the meeting they were pleasantly surprised to find team ten checking out to go to dinner. They held a light conversation as they headed to the dining hall since no one wanted to talk about the elephant in the room. Unfortunately, the elephant had to be addressed because the moment Sakura stepped into the hall the murmur of conversation came to a grinding halt. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, and looking around the hall revealed each pair of eyes trained onto Sakura and her new appendages.

The group also halted their walk since the atmosphere made everyone want to stay still. This wasn't agreeable to one Uzumaki Naruto who would NOT abide by people treating Sakura differently or badly for her new looks and he definitely didn't like long stretches of silence. Crossing his fingers in the ram seal, Naruto wordlessly created fifty kage bunshin.

"FUCK OFF!" they yelled in unison.

"N-Naruto, I don't think that's the best way to go about doing things…" protested Sakura who had taken on a very Hinata-like demeanor.

"Of course it is Sakura-chan. Otherwise, they won't leave us alone, or at least stop freaking us out. You know what? Let's not eat here. Alright, you guys! Grab all of the food, we're going back to the room."

Sakura could do nothing but blink in surprise. "That's… not a bad idea Naruto, thank you."

It took a couple of extremely awkward minutes, but eventually, the Naruto army got all of the food available and brought it to the team seven room. Team ten had more than enough excitement for the day and decided to stay in the cafeteria, so Naruto left them some food.

Once back in their room Naruto and Sakura ate a feast fit for kings. After finishing all of it Naruto and Sakura laid side by side staring up at the empty wooden ceiling, slowly slipping into food comas.

"Hey Sakura?"

Said girl turned her head to face Naruto. "Mmmm yeah?"

Naruto had also turned to look at her gorgeous face and now they were mere inches apart. Suddenly he began to silently cry.

"I'm sorry."

Sakura closed her eyes so that she wouldn't cry and asked what she knew was a dumb question.

"For what?"

His face contorted into a pained grimace. "For doing this to you." He gestured at her entire body.

Sakura almost laughed. "Well I'm not sorry. This," she waved her hand over her body, "is awesome. You were at the meeting Naruto, I'm the epitome of physical prowess, I'm hotter than the sun, and in the future, this is only going to get better! And these things?" She wiggled her tail in front of Naruto's nose. "Are pretty cool too! I can hear things so well you wouldn't believe it and if I'm lucky I could use my tail to fight! My chakra might be weird right now but I'm sure that's going to be awesome too. So don't apologize. Ok?" She finished by wiping his tears with her tail.

Naruto giggled, sorry, Naruto chuckled in a manly manner at the soft ministration. His voice was soft when he said, "Thank you Sakura."

And with those final words, the two teens slipped into a peaceful slumber.

~AFT~ ****

 **AN: I don't know. It's definitely not my best work. To be honest I'm kind of disappointed. Anyway no more dicking around, Next chapter will be the prelims and over the next week all of my stories will have completed the editing and revising process and have a new chapter.**

 **Please leave a review and tell me what you guys think.**


	6. The Prelims

**AN: So… here I am. Not sure how dedicated you readers are to reading this, but writing has become a difficult venture for me since I am now working a steady job. I'll never abandon my works, I know I especially want to keep working on Goku the Gamer, but updates may take longer to come out and I'm abolishing any sort of schedule I made. One night I might be able to write an entire chapter, other chapters might take week to come out. Not to mention my parents' delicate health puts a serious damper on creative juices, hard to be funny when the simplest of things might mean the end for a loved one.**

 **Anyway, this is it. For anyone paying attention to the timeline the day Sakura and Naruto wake up to in this chapter is the same one that team seven arrive on in canon only to be thrust into the prelims. So yeah, actually had to reread my notes just to be sure of that. Sheesh waiting to write makes things hard.**

 **Besides any of that… I truly hope that I do any fighting scenes I write justice. Sure I've written** _ **something**_ **in Goku the Gamer and King of the Pit, but they weren't intense fights… into the fray I guess.**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own nor do I make a profit off of Naruto, please support the official release.**

~AFT~

Chapter 5 Summary: Naruto and Sakura decided to tell the Hokage about their encounter with the ancient chakra beast in Naruto's tummy only to learn they were going to have a meeting later in the day anyway. As they waiting they ran into team ten forcing Sakura and Naruto to explain Sakura's new look. The checkup was ok, basically the same stuff about Sakura's new hot bod that we already knew was rehashed and there was some debate on the nature of her chakra and whether or not weird shit will happen. Oh and she'll be getting some Inuzuka training which will be nice. And some final fluff and body confidence at the end.

~AFT~

Chapter 6: The Prelims

The morning of the final day of the second test our heroes slowly awoke in a messy tangle of limbs. Naruto was a very… active sleeper, and Sakura seemed incapable of separating herself from him, thus the tangle. While normal people, and ninja, would find the position extremely uncomfortable, the two thirteen year olds woke up without a single creak in their body.

"MMMhaa!" Sakura yawned.

The sound roused Naruto from his sleepiness. "That was so cute Sakura!"

She rolled her eyes. "Alright baka. Let's get showered and dressed. I think the prelims are soon."

"Oh yeah." Naruto answered before leaping out of bed. He began to look around their room for clothes, but then realized he was still wearing it. "Look at that! I don't even have to get ready." Grinning in triumph he sat back down on the bed. "Hurry up Sakura! We don't wanna be late."

"Eww! No Naruto. What the hell? You're going to look for something else to wear and take a shower. I can freaking smell you and it's nasty. If you don't have anything I'll look after my shower. And if you try to sneak out I'll know…"

Sakura allowed the threat to hang in the air unsaid as she entered the bathroom.

"Aww man! I don't have anything good to wear…" the blonde complained. He then opened all of the drawers and closets in the room. "Ha! We have no other clothes!"

"Ugh I forgot! Fine you win! Still, take a shower when I finish!" yelled Sakura.

Naruto flinched a bit having already forgotten about Sakura's threat and ability to hear him.

Just as Naruto finished getting dressed after his shower, something Sakura guiltily stole glances of despite him telling her to not look, turns out he had a pretty cute butt, the two child soldiers heard a knock on their door.

"Attention chuunin hopefuls, a meeting will be taking place at noon sharp, if you are not in attendance you will forfeit your position in this competition." The moment he was finished the two kids heard him walk away.

"Ok… it's…" Looking about quickly Sakura found the clock, "Only ten right now. We have more than enough time to eat breakfast and right now I'm hungry as hell, but…" Sakura sighed forlornly, "I wanna practice my henge before heading out."

"Why wait? I'll just send some clones again. And! I'm apparently super good at henge, you've got the best possible teacher right here!" Naruto said with a wide grin.

"Thanks Naruto." Upon hearing her response he immediately made twenty clones and sent them out. "So tell me "oh great teacher" how do I do a henge?"

The way she phrased the question made the poor thirteen year old blush. "Uhh, well, you know the hand signs right?"

Sakura rolled her eyes. "Dog, Boar, Ram. Anything else sensei?"

Naruto nervously rubbed his now sweaty palms on his pants. "Uhh good, good. I know now that my problem is putting too much chakra into a technique. So try to do the henge with as little chakra as possible?"

Sakura cocked her head while she considered his words. "That's actually not a bad idea Naruto." Running her tail around his head she purred, "Good work _sensei_." Which made Naruto feel all kinds of funny.

Sakura then reached out to her chakra and was surprised when she met… something in her chakra.

'Hi!' Am overly peppy voice almost shouted in the pink haired girl's head.

Sakura blinked. 'Uhh hello. Who are you?'

'You!' The peppy voice answered.

'Me?'

'Kinda.'

'Stop, can you give me a full answer?'

'Well, I was the Kyuubi, but now I'm you? Sorry. That's not right. There was someone else here before I came and now we're one person. And she was you, so now I'm you!' The voice finished peppily.

'I- what? You fused with my inner voice? I thought that was just me…'

'It was!'

'But you described my voice as an entity… anyway, you're saying that you're a fusion of my inner voice, my id, which still doesn't make sense, and the Kyuubi. You seem awfully… upbeat.'

'Well yeah!'

'I… whatever. Can we do the henge?'

'I don't know, we gotta try!'

'Ok that was a dumb question. By the way, what should I call you?'

'Uhh, why not Kogi?'

'As in kogitsune? I like it. Now let's get to practicing.'

'Yeah!'

Since Sakura has clearly been in a meditative state Naruto made a huge effort to stay quiet. Still, it made him quite bored and he decided to practice the henge himself. With a quiet poof Naruto was suddenly a hot teenage girl.

Naruto has never really paused to consider his form, after all, it had been intended as a joke from the very beginning. A simple and easy way to take advantage of perverted men, but now… the idea that he was a girl in every sense of the word made Naruto slightly uncomfortable.

Before he could descend into the rabbit hole that was that line of thought Sakura ended her meditation with a start.

"Wow… that's a lot of chakra." She said before taking in Naruto. "Why are you in your henge."

Naruto just shrugged.

"Whatever. I'm going to try it now." Going through the hand signs Sakura channeled the small amount of chakra she had gathered and activated the jutsu.

With a loud poof Sakura was replaced with Naruto. But it wasn't Naruto as he was, no no no, instead it was Naruto I'd he was a walking wet dream. The form certainly threw the male genin for a loop, but not Sakura. She practically whooped for joy as she realized her henge had worked.

"Yes! Oh Kami yes!"

As the girl cum sexy Naruto marveled over her success Naruto cleared his throat to get her attention. "Uhm… what's with the form?"

Sakura smirked cruelly. "Oh this? It's nothing, just something from a dream I had last night."

Naruto blinked. Most people would be a stuttering mess after such a blatant confession, but not Naruto. He was the prankster king after all! He had a reputation to defend!

Naruto smirked. "Really? That's awesome Sakura. Let me just… henge!"

No longer was Naruto a sexy female version of himself, instead he was a sexy older version of Sakura, tail, ears, and all. If a stranger were to look at him, they would think he was a woman in her mid twenties that deserved her own full page spread.

For Sakura there was an extremely strong uncanny valley effect. For all intents and purposes Naruto has taken on her form if she grew up to be a pinup model, but beyond that it looked oddly… correct. After the initial shock Sakura realized the look wasn't as absurd as she would have thought a couple of days ago. Her new body could easily grow up to having birthing hips as wide as the ones Naruto now had, boobs as big as the ones as his chest, etc.

The two teens simply stared at each other for a few tense minutes. Never before in their young lives had they been in such an awkward situation. Fortunately they weren't allowed to stew in it because the clones sent out to retrieve breakfast had returned.

Breakfast was a silent affair, something the clones quickly picked up on, prompting them to disperse as quickly as possible. The teens simply ate and wondered what the future could hold. Naruto was happy since it seemed that Sakura might have some sort of interest in him. Sakura was happy because Naruto had basically reaffirmed his almost obsessive interest in her, something she had doubted a bit in spite of his words saying otherwise.

When breakfast was finished Naruto finally found his voice again.

"So… you're good with the henge. You wanna try the other two?"

"Well, if I'm anything like how you were I'm sure I'll struggle with the bunshin, so I'll try the kawarimi first."

Five hand seals later and Sakura was plastered to the wall.

"Sakura! Are you ok?" Asked a slightly distraught Naruto who had caught her, with extreme difficulty, before she hit the floor.

"I'm fine." The girl answered as she stood up and brushed off the dust on her outfit. "Did you ever do that?"

"Uhh no. It would just not work."

"Huh… weird. I felt like I was thrown. I guess I just need to use less chakra."

The rest of the time before the meeting that the teens knew would actually be a preliminary tournament was spent practicing. Only minutes before they had to leave did Sakura finally felt she had reached the level with the technique that she and before graduating.

Full of confidence the pinkette and blonde made their way down to the weird auditorium thing.

~AFT~

Assembled before the Hokage stood twenty promising genin. The Oto team had been expected to pass, but they're termination changed that, instead the same team had made it surprising most of the proctors as they hadn't expected much from the team.

(Chapter 65 and 66 are almost all exposition that I'm not changing or is no longer canon to my story so I'm jumping right to the first match.)

"Alright then , divert your attention to the screen. Upon it will appear two names, they will fight for a place in the third test. Also, wince there are only nineteen competitors at the moment the first victor will have to fight again. Sorry if it seems unfair, but that's the way it is. Without further ado…" Hayate gestured toward the screen upon which "Sakura Haruno vs. Ino Yamanaka" appeared. "Alright, would the two shinobi on the board please stay while the rest of you vacate to the balcony? Perfect. May the first fight of the preliminary tournament begin!" Hayate then jumped onto the platform in front of the hands.

The two girls stood facing each other for a moment before Ino spoke up.

"Where are your extra bits?"

"I decided to try and hide them for a bit, but really it was just practice for after the tournament. After all, almost everyone has seen me at this point."

To punctuate the statement Sakura released the henge that had kept her looking the way she did before the second test began, dress and all. While it was true everyone had seen her new body already they weren't prepared for the stark contrast she accidentally emphasized. New Sakura was a whole four inches taller than Old Sakura and her face was far more regal than the still childish face of Old Sakura. Not to mention her body which had certainly done some growing. Of course, the elephant in the room was Sakura's new appendages, but they were almost forgettable in light of her extreme growth spurt. The puff of smoke created by the henge even lifted the skirt she was wearing a little bit.

"Jeez, it's going to take a while to get used to that." Ino muttered lowly.

"Well the faster the better because I'm stuck this way. But I'm not complaining. Anyway, we have a fight don't we? Let's start."

Having been thrown off by Sakura revealing that she had heard her Ino was even less prepared for Sakura's sudden acceleration. It was mind boggling how fast the rosette was now. As such Ino was definitely not prepared when Sakura's fist connected with her stomach, sneezing her flying into the concrete wall.

"Jeez, Ino. At least put up some sort of a fight." Taunted Sakura, but Ino didn't reply.

"Uhh, one moment Haruno-san." Hayate as he entered the arena to check on Ino. "Yup, out cold. The victor is Sakura Haruno. Hurry up medics."

While the rest of the audience was shocked into silence Naruto was cheering and applauding with a humongous contingent of clones. Sakura blushed at the praise as she jumped onto the balcony to stand by her sensei and Naruto.

"Alright, alright, relax. The next combatants will be… Temari and Tenten."

As the two kunoichi in question entered the arena Naruto and Sakura were talking with Kakashi.

"So. How've you two been?" He asked without looking away from his Icha Icha novel.

"That's it sensei? Really? Look at me! Look at Sasuke, speaking of which, where is he?"

"Yeah! You didn't even visit!" Naruto helpfully added.

"Well, Sasuke-kun was in a very delicate situation similar to your own Sakura. On top of that, he was in danger of being targeted by Orochimaru. The guy who blew you away in the forest." Kakashi added when he saw Naruto's confused face. "He's one of the Sannin and one of Konoha's greatest enemies and he apparently wants Sasuke for something. So I've been guarding him. I did ask for hourly reports of your progress Sakura, after all, each and every one of my little genin are precious to me!" he finished with his signature eye smile.

"I… I see. Wait, you didn't say where he is!"

"Smart as ever Sakura-chan. I can't tell you."

"Ooo! One of those S-class secrets?" Naruto whispered conspiratorially.

"Yes, Naruto. Now, please pay attention- Oh. Nevermind, the fight is over."

Both teens looked into the arena, surprise clear upon their faces.

"What's with that girl?" Naruto asked, shocked by Temari's brutality. Tenten's battered form made quite a sight perched upon the sand kunoichi's fan.

Sakura shrugged. "Some people are just like that Naruto. You should know that by now. Not to mention, you don't exactly have a leg to stand on…" she said with a meaningful look.

"I guess. Kami! What the hell?"

"Well that was uncalled for." Kakashi said with a frown in his voice.

"Go Lee!" Cheered Naruto as he watched the bushy browed boy attack Temari.

"Idiot, don't say that. He could be disqualified." Sakura said.

"Who cares! That girl was being mean!"

"Yes Naruto. But still… I clearly won't be changing your mind any time soon. Let's check out the board, the next fight should be soon."

Hayate soon after said, "Would Lee Rock and Gaara of the Sand please enter the arena."

"Yosh! The Power of Youth has made our fated battle come sooner!" Exclaimed Lee which Gaara promptly ignored.

"Alright kiddos, let the fight begin."

"Go Lee!" Naruto cheered again.

"I don't know if he can win…" muttered Sakura.

"What! Why not?"

"Well… can't you tell Naruto? He feels very similar to something else we know about."

Naruto stared at her blankly.

"Kami… I think that Gaara guy is a jinchuuriki." She whispered. Close enough for Naruto feel her breath on his ear sending a pleasurable shiver through his body. Something he noticed seemed to be happening more and more often.

He pushed aside those thoughts in order to answer. "Really?"

"Yeah Naruto. I'm a bit familiar with your friend's chakra and that kid's feels like a watered down version."

"Huh… weird."

"That's it?"

"Well, what should I say?"

"Uhh, I don't know. Maybe it's interesting to find someone who may understand you in a way no one else does?"

"Ehh, he's super creepy. Remember when we ran into him before the exam? He gives off a murdery vibe ya' know?"

"Yeah. And- woah! Holy crap."

"Kakashi-sensei, how can he have that much weight?"

"Well, it just takes time. I'm sure Lee has spent the last year and a half increasing his weights whenever they became too light. Is that right Guy?"

"Hmph. Sharp as ever Kakashi. Yes Lee has trained himself down to the bone and even further beyond. He might not be your typical genius, but he is a genius of hard work."

"Whatever you say Guy."

"Always so cool Kakashi! Damn you!"

"Kami, adults around here can be weird huh Naruto."

"What. No! I think Bushy Brows Sr. is pretty cool."

"...how?"

"Well, you know. He's all badass. And he looks strong. Uhh… and he's got a good attitude!"

Sakura sighed. "Alright Naruto. Actually, what Lee's doing now is pretty cool."

"Hell yeah! It's like he came back to life!"

"You taught him how to open the gates Guy? Really?" Kakashi asked, clearly disturbed.

"He had the ability." Guy answered more serious than either genin had seen him before.

"It's forbidden Guy! I can't tell you how to teach your genin, but I have lost all respect for you."

"What do you know about that kid? That kid has a precious thing he would give up his life to prove. So I wanted to turn him into a man that could accomplish it. That is all."

"Still… how many gates can he open Guy?"

"...five."

"Okay, okay. What the hell are these gates?" Interjected a confused Sakura.

(Lots of exposition)

"-and if you open all eight gates you would gain power to surpass even the Hokage, but in exchange… you will surely die." finished Kakashi.

"Holy crap Sakura! Look! Lee turned red!"

"Yeah, I can see that- Holy crap!"

Lee had started moving. Everywhere the genius genin moved the ground was torn asunder. The blowback practically blinded everyone watching and only the two combatants truly knew what was happening. As the dust cleared Gaara was high in the air and above him was Lee going in for the kill.

"Shit, his muscles just snapped." Kakashi commented.

"This is the end!" Lee screamed as he opened the fifth gate.

The extreme lotus was devastating, but Gaara's last line of defense, the very gourd that held his sand, softened the blow. Lee was far too exhausted to react as Gaara's sand wrapped around his left arm and leg.

Desert Coffin.

(More canon stuff. Almost skipped most of the prelims tbh.)

"The next fight will be between Choji Akimichi and Kagari. Begin!"

"Whadya think about the guy with the weird face mask Sakura?" asked Naruto.

"How am I supposed to think anything? I don't know anything besides him being an Ame ninja. And his entire team is wearing the rebreathers Naruto."

"Still! What's his deal? He ain't got any eyes? Who does that?"

Kagari deftly dodged Big Ball Choji by hiding underground.

"Maybe you're right Naruto. Maybe he has no eyes. As for his fighting ability, he seems fine. He's probably good at Earth techniques which might spell trouble for Choji."

"Heh, maybe. But if that guy calls him fat…"

Kagari called Choji a fat pile of shit.

"Oh."

"Oh."

"What… what did you just call me?" Choji asked, his voice a dangerous level of calm.

"You heard me fatass! This fight will be cake. You can't hit me and your extra fat form is just easy pickings with my jutsu. Hell, I can probably get you to beat yourself if I really tried."

"I'm not fat! I'm pleasantly plump!" The rotund boy screamed as he attacked Kagari with the same exact strategy.

'Ridiculous.' The Ame nin thought to himself as he went underground again.

What Kagari didn't expect was for Choji to rebound off the wall like a pinball and smash the ground a little to his left.

"I might not be able to see you, but I can guess where you're going!"

'Shit, if he hits me under the ground I might die…' Kagari returned above ground intent on redirecting Choji with his Earth jutsu.

"Fine then. I can still beat your ass without being underground lardo."

What Kagari hadn't accounted for was Choji taking the precious few moments he had been underground to set up a small trap. At Kagari's feet lay several kunai with explosive tags.

"I don't think so!" Choji replied as he rolled not where Kagari was, but where he might dodge towards.

As it were Choji's "miss" further distracted the blindfolded genin from the threat at his feet and thus took almost all of the damage from the explosion. Choji had hoped something like that would happen and once again rebounded off of the wall and landed directly on top of the singed Ame shinobi.

Confident in his victory Choji deactivated his Multi-size jutsu and waited for Hayate to call the match.

Downing his job Hayate checked on Kagari and confirmed his lack of consciousness. "The victor is Choji Akimichi!"

"Nice to know Choji has picked up a thing or two from you eh Shikamaru?" Asuma asked his lazy genin.

"Please. Choji has always been this capable. Don't say such troublesome things." Though the slightest of blushes could be seen on the child's face.

"Heh. Whatever you say."

"Oh man, I wanna fight already!" Naruto whined.

"C'mon Naruto. You'll get your turn soon enough. You might even be next." Sakura replied encouragingly.

"Would Shikamaru Nara and Mubi please enter the arena." Hayate called out.

"Seriously?" Naruto yelled prompting his pink haired teammate to bust a gut laughing. "It's not funny!"

Meanwhile things were… kind of heating up in the arena. Shikamaru had used his Shadow Copy jutsu right out of the gate and had caught the ignorant Ame genin. From there it was as easy as threatening Mubi with suicide to get him to give up, earning Shikamaru the victory.

"That sucked Shikamaru!" Naruto complained.

"Eh. I won didn't I?"

"So? It was so boring!"

"Naruto. Sometimes the easy way is the best way. Can't you be happy he won?" Sakura asked.

Naruto kicked the floor like a five year old. "I guess. Good job Shikamaru."

"Troublesome… thanks I suppose."

"Would Shino Aburame and Oboro please enter the arena. All set? Begin!"

"Oh ho ho. It's my lucky day. You look like a real punk." Oboro taunted.

Shino simply stood still and said nothing.

"Strong silent type eh? That's fine." The Ame genin with two whole eyes said as he went through a series of hand seals. "Sly Mind jutsu."

Shino still did nothing.

"Hey! Lucky me. You're an idiot too." Oboro, seeing a weak target, decided to continue taunting as he set up for a big kill.

Suddenly, several more clones of Oboro came into existence.

"How lucky are ya'? Which one is the real me? Are enough even looking in the right direction?" Several Oboros dashed toward Shino to attack, but the bug boy easily dodged the real one.

"What! You must be pretty damn lucky to dodge me like that! No matter, I'll just-" unfortunately Oboro was unable to finish his sentence as he fell over.

"Wha-what?"

Finally Shino said, "Kikaichu bugs. They ate your chakra."

"Damn… that's pretty lucky." was all Oboro could get out before falling unconscious.

"Victory! Shino Aburame!"

"Eww, how does Shino live like that?" Sakura complained.

"Hey!" Naruto started loud and then whispered into her human ears. "It's not so different from us right?"

"I-I guess. Still. It's bugs…"

"Bugs are cool."

"We're going to have to agree to disagree on that one Naruto."

"Fine. Hopefully it'll be my turn…"

(Kankuro vs. stretchy arms is entirely canon.)

(As is Hinata vs. Neji)

Sakura hugged Naruto as he returned to the balcony. "Oh look at you. Defending a maiden's honor I'm so proud!"

"Don't say it like that. And my back hurts!"

"Aww. And you were so squishy." Sakura pouted as she put him down.

"Wha-whatever. It's finally my turn. It has to be."

"Would Naruto Uzumaki and Kiba Inuzuka please enter the arena."

"Yes!" an ecstatic Naruto hollered as he vaulted onto the main floor.

"Pfft. Naruto? Really? This'll be cake. Let's wipe the floor with him Akamaru."

"What the hell? Can he use the dog?" Naruto asked Hayate.

"Yes, animals and bugs are treated the same as ninja tools."

"Fine. Kiba needs the help anyway. Dontcha?"

"You know what? Akamaru, stay out of this one for a bit." Kiba commanded to which Akamaru gave a small whine of protest.

"Woo Naruto! You can do it!" Sakura cheered.

"Heh. I feel a little bad beating you down in front of all these people. So I'll make it quick and finish this in one punch."

"Really? I think I'll do the same." Naruto shot back.

"Ready then? Begin!" Hayate commanded.

Immediately Kiba entered a low stance and did a hand seal. "Beast Mode Ninpou: Quadruped Jutsu!" The technique wreathed him in an aura as his nails sharpened. "Here I come!"

"Ha! I can do that too!" Naruto replied making Kiba trip over himself in surprise. 'C'mon Kyuubi! A little help here!' He mentally begged the beast sealed inside of him.

Seeing what Naruto was going for Sakura became worried about his chance of success and turned inward as well. 'Hey Kogi? Can we help Naruto out a bit?'

'I don't know. Though… despite what the Kyuubi said I have some sort of connection still. Maybe I can get him to help?'

'Please.'

'Alrighty!'was Kogi's eternally peppy reply as Sakura distinctly felt Kogi's presence leave her mind.

Down below Kiba had recollected himself enough to deliver the blow he had promised Naruto who was standing still, holding a dam seal like an idiot.

"Gah!" Naruto screamed as he lost concentration on his experiment.

The blonde fell to the ground prompting Kiba to turn to Proctor Gekko and say, "You might as well call it now. He's not getting up."

Sakura laughed prompting Kakashi to do his eye smile.

Naruto groaned from his position on the floor and as he stood up. "Don't underestimate me!" he yelled.

As if the gods above had heard his declaration of defiance a distinctly red aura began to envelope the blonde shinobi.

Taken aback Kiba yelled, "What? Don't stay something stupid like that while you're bleeding."

"Ha! I let you hit me to test your strength, and you should stop acting tough…" Naruto set his feet and and let out an unexpected growl. "'Cuz I'm gonna kick your ass!"

Up on the balcony Kogi had returned. 'I did it!'

'How?'

'Well, big bro Kyu didn't wanna, but I got a hold onto one of his tails and dragged it out. Then it started disappearing and I came back here!'

'Huh… so is the Kyuubi not influencing Naruto right now?'

'Maybe? He did sound pissed when I left.'

'…Great.'

Back in the arena the now three combatants had truly begun their clash. Kiba and Akamaru's impeccable teamwork and unorthodox combat style was only barely able to keep up with Naruto's enhanced abilities and equally unorthodox combat style.

When he had seen the red aura begin to envelop Naruto, Hiruzen, and everyone else in the know, had been worried about the Kyuubi influencing or taking over the genin, but it quickly became apparent that such worries were unfounded. Sure he was certainly acting even more wild and aggressive than before, but one look at his face was all it took to realize he wasn't bloodthirsty in the slightest. Ok, maybe a little bloodthirsty, but nothing that made Hiruzen think Kiba and Akamaru were in danger.

Kurenai on the other hand was shocked. She had been sure Kiba would have the fight in the bag. Everything she knew about the Uzumaki pointed to the indisputable fact that he was an incompetent shinobi. It was so mind boggling that she had barely registered the fact that the boy was clearly using the Kyuubi's power. But when she did…

"Hokage-sama! This- this is unfair! That boy is-"

"Calm yourself Kurenai-san. Given his situation using such power is just like Kiba using Akamaru or Neji using the Byakugan. Give no more thought to the matter."

Having been shut down completely Kurenai merely looked on with worry as the battle below began to favor Naruto.

The jinchuuriki has finally summoned some Shadow Clones and while they may go down in one hit, their ferocity and power and the fact that they never stopped coming marked the end for Kiba and Akamaru. In a final ditch attempt Kiba used a soldier pill and the Man Beast Clone Jutsu. It helped… a little, but ultimately it just delayed the inevitable. A minute into the fight the Narutos had separated the Kibas and the real Naruto and a clone were able to chuck Kiba and Akamaru at each other at extreme speeds. The impact knocked both man and dog unconscious giving Naruto the victory.

Only when his opponent lay unconscious at his feet and combat was no longer in the cards did Naruto's aura dissipate leaving the boy quite exhausted.

"Victory! Naruto Uzumaki!" Hayate declared.

Sakura and Lee were the most vocal cheerers though Kakashi was still filled with pride. Gaara on the other hand was in the middle of a mental breakdown more severe than anything before. While this scared his siblings they didn't realize they had nothing to worry about because it was the One Tail that was sealed within Gaara that was really freaking out.

"Fucking Kurama is here? Fucking fuck!"

Such language confused Gaara greatly.

When Naruto got back to his spot on the balcony he was greeted with a massive bear hug from Sakura.

"I knew you could do it Naruto!" she practically yelled.

Despite his exhaustion, being held by his crush perked Naruto up enough to hug her back.

"Me too, but…" Still being held slightly off the ground Naruto gave Sakura a sideways look, "How come I went all Kyuubi down there?"

Sakura put him down as she sheepishly answered, "Well, you know… Uhh… Turns out the Hokage was kinda right. I have an entity inside of me now. Calm down, she's super nice and it turns out she still has some sort of connection with the Kyuubi and that's why what happened down there happened." She finished in a bit of a rush.

Naruto blinked. "Uhh… ok. It was super weird 'cuz it didn't hurt that much. Usually it's like really bad stinging, almost burning all over my body. This time it was just stinging."

Sakura glanced at the board and remembered that she had to fight again. "Well that's good… right? We'll figure it out I have to fight… Yoroi Akado? I'll be right back." Feeling quite daring and spontaneous Sakura gave Naruto the slightest peck on the cheek before jumping into the arena to meet her opponent.

"Are both combatants ready? Yes? Begin!" Hayate repeated for the tenth time before jumping to a safe spot.

'Orochimaru-sama had intended for me to fight the Uchiha… but he is not here.' Yoroi glanced at said sannin who had been grumbling in a downright horrifying manner throughout the entirety of the preliminaries. 'Though he expressed interest in this girl… her strength is huge, but I should be able to secure the victory.' As he finished his thought he had to brace himself for Sakura's attack.

"Not one for banter?" cheekily as Sakura as her punch sent Yoroi skidding back several feet. "Almost everyone has had something to say."

Yoroi said nothing as he created several bunshin and dashed at Sakura while launching several kunai and shuriken in a manner that made it difficult to discern with Yoroi was the real one.

Sakura watched all of that occur in disbelief. Her opponent was definitely of a higher grade than Ino or a couple of the others, but with her enhanced senses he was laughably inferior. She had actually seen him switch places with one of his bunshin and if she had not it was easy to figure out which was the real one using her sense of smell or hearing. Still, she allowed the maneuver to take place and instinctively went to her side to grab a kunai that wasn't there.

'Shit! New clothes! Forgot all of my weapons! Shit!' The teen panickedly thought before calming down. 'Wait…'

In a show of skill that genuinely astounded most of the onlookers Sakura grabbed each and every kunai and shuriken out of the air before rocketing them at the real Yoroi. He attempted to dodge the attack, but a few of the projectiles nicked him pretty good leaving his left leg pretty torn up.

"Oh man, this is just too easy." Sakura laughed before she began her assault upon Yoroi.

The genin follower of Orochimaru tried his best to defend, he even kept his chakra draining technique up the entire team for whenever she touched his hands, but in the end he wound up embedded in a wall. The astonishing part to him was that he had actually siphoned a lot of the girl's chakra, but it seemed to do absolutely nothing to her. Unfortunately, such a thought would mean nothing as a mere second later he was unconscious.

"Winner… again. Sakura Haruno. Would each of the victors please assemble in the arena?"

(Canon speeches blah blah blah. The Kabuto trying to kill Sasuke thing obviously doesn't happen.)

"And now I present you with the final match arrangements." Hiruzen declared.

Round 1: Naruto vs. Neji

Round 2: Shikamaru vs. Temari

Round 3: Choji vs. Gaara

Round 4: Sakura vs. Kankuro

Shino gets a by and fights the victor of Round 4

(More canon exposition)

"Kakashi-sensei! Where's Sasuke?" Naruto yelled.

Kakashi rolled his eye. "I don't know Naruto…"

"Actually I was curious about that too." Sakura added after she got up to the balcony.

"Well… I suppose I could bring you guys. But you'll need the Hokage's permission ok?"

"Yes! Let's go Sakura-chan!"

~AFT~

 **AN: Sorry if you guys don't like me cutting out the things that don't change from canon. I just hate nothing more than reiterating, but it's also to show that Naruto's character hasn't done much changing yet. He reacted the same way he did in canon to most things.**

 **Also, for the people that get them confused:**

 **Two of the sannin are sennin**

 **And a kogitsune is a little fox**

 **SUPER IMPORTANT PLEASE READ**

 **I have a problem. I write a bunch of stuff. So I made a poll. Top three stories will be continued while the rest will be put on semi-permanent hiatus (never know when the bug will get ya). If you want this story to be one of those that get much attention please vote for it. Everyone gets three votes so check out my other stuff too to see if you like any of it. I'll probably post the first batch of the new chapters in a month or so when I close the poll.**

 **I THINK PEOPLE ARE A BIT CONFUSED. THE POLL IS ON MY PROFILE YOU MIST GO THERE AND PHYSICALKY VOTE. IF YOU LOVE THIS STORY THEN DO SO BECAUSE AS OF RIGHT NOW THIS ONE IS IN FIFTH PLACE.**

 **Anyway, thanks for reading. Please leave a review, I need to know what you think. Also, Sorry for waiting so long to update this story. I purposely left the Author's Note at the top of the page just to see how long ago I started this chapter. Stuff like this is why I made the poll to focus on three stories.**


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